


Kindness and Trust

by DarkyLonewolf



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Akko Just Wants to Help, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Angst, Dark Past, Double Agents, F/F, Gen, Girl Saves Girl, Half-Demon Sucy, High School, Inspired by Fanart, Jealousy, Near Death Experiences, Okay The Tags Seem Like A Mess Now, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Trust Issues, Worry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2019-08-06 11:50:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 24
Words: 50,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16387250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkyLonewolf/pseuds/DarkyLonewolf
Summary: When Diana and Akko go on to investigate a nearby derelict village after a confrontation between humans and demons happened there, Akko finds out that there is a reason why the confrontation happened in the first place... Inspired by a bit of fanart from our Lord and Saviour Tama AKA TM_Suac. I wouldn't call the depictions of violence here too graphic, but it's just to be on the safe side.





	1. Prologue

Winter. While many of us humans have rather divided opinions on this time of year, some enjoying the chill and the opportunities to play in the snow while others much prefer the warmer seasons, it was one of those times that both sides could agree that at the very least this particular winter was far from a harsh one. Sure, the snow was covering every single stretch of land for as far as one could see, but at the very least, the air didn't feel like it was made of icy needles.

A couple of young human maidens wandered through the almost knee-deep snow, for the road to their destination was thoroughly snowed over, not letting them take a single step without stepping into the uncomfortable cold.

"Seriously, Diana, how long is this going to take?" – The brown-haired maiden of Japanese descent asked the other, blonde one, as while her partner was treading on with no difficulties, the brunette was far from used to such conditions.

"We're just a few steps away from our destination, Akko. All we'll have to do is check around the derelict for any stray demons, and if there are none, we'll be off." – The blue-eyed blonde replied in a somewhat exasperated tone of voice – for all of her partner's vigor and energy, it seemed as if even the brunette had her limits after all, and was quite impatient to boot. Sure, Diana herself was beginning to feel physically tired, but she tried her best not to show it – she was the stronger, more capable member of the duo after all, having had more field training.

The two girls were part of a small organization stationed within Blytonbury – an average town stationed not too far away from their current destination – known as the Human Order, dedicated to upholding balance between the Humans, the Angels and the Demons. And while their fellow humans and the angels were at least somewhat cooperative in the effort, with the latter having had established an agreement to protect the human towns from the more murderously-inclined of demons, so long as the humans were also willing to cooperate if necessary, the aforementioned demons were… A special case. Most of the demons were downright feral, attacking random towns in groups and rampaging for no discernible reason other than their hatred against humans and angels alike. And, honestly, while the more intelligent demons, like succubi, incubi, inferi and the like were far more willing to cooperate, and were not as murderously inclined as their feral kin… Well, the animosity between them and the remaining two factions was far too great for their own good. Besides, unlike angels, the intelligent demons usually preferred to stay within their own plane anyway… Most of the time, that is.

Although, over the last week, the demons were acting… Rather oddly. Their attacks seemed a lot more coordinated, and they seemed to focus not on the random human settlements that they had the misfortune of stumbling into upon exiting a rift, but on entirely derelict areas. Villages that were previously ravaged by the constantly rampaging packs of stray demons – from lesser imps, to hellhounds and nightmares alike – and now were little more than ruins, somehow seemed to attract the demons' attention by quite a bit for the past week, with the latest attack happening a few days ago right on the same forgotten village that Akko and Diana were headed off to at the moment. The demons were driven off rather quickly by other, more experienced hunters, but just today, Diana was tasked to check around the area for any remaining imps or the like, and take Akko with her for some further field training as she would say it. Essentially, this would allow her to kill two birds with one stone – or, rather, two imps with one bullet.

And speak of the wicked, it wasn't long before a small crowd of imps burst right out of the snow piles surrounding the duo.

These were basically your usual kind of lesser demon – short stature, legs ending in cloven hooves, palms with sharp but short claws, barely functional wings, short tails and almost nonexistent horns. And of course, the usual demonic face. These were basically the lesser of lesser demons, expendable due to just how constantly they spawned.

While Akko was busy fumbling with her gun, firing off one accidental shot and accidentally shooting down a random imp, Diana already had her twin pistols out and was packing the filthy little things full of lead. And while the snow limited her maneuverability, forcing her to stay mostly in one place, it wasn't like she could let the imps close enough anyway – all it took was one bullet to obliterate one of these little things, and Diana's guns were certainly loaded to no tomorrow, so it wasn't long until the imps were disposed of.

"These things just never give up, huh." – Akko remarked as she looked around and saw a bunch of ashes all over the snow – apparently, not all imps managed to escape back to the demon plane while they still could.

"They'll come back anyway. Give them enough rest – and they'll go right back. These things multiply fast, lack any intelligence…"

"And are really ugly, like rat and pig combined kind of ugly." – Akko remarked, looking with disgust at a dead imp lying nearby that disintegrated within mere moments afterwards. Her blonde partner just sighed in exasperation and replied with a blunt "Yes." to the brunette's speech.

"We've still got more checking to do. I might, however, need to melt off some of the snow here, as it's impossible to maneuver in any way whatsoever." – As Diana said that, she sheathed both her guns, knelt down to the ground, and placed both her hands on the ground. Akko understood just what the girl was about to do, and stepped back a few paces.

Even the initiates amongst the Human Order were taught the most basic of holy magics – from the ability to create flames that didn't burn anything, but managed to hurt imps and melt snow and ice alike, to basic healing techniques. And while Akko was far from proficient in these magics, this was most certainly not the case with Diana.

" _Cleansing Flames!"_ – Diana shouted out as both her hands were enveloped in an odd white flame, and as she stood up, all it took was a few hand swings to make the snow before her melt from the resulting flames. As she continued onward, melting the snow off swing by swing, Akko just quietly lagged behind the blue-eyed blonde, looking around.

The brunette couldn't help but sigh dejectedly at the sight. This place probably used to be such a nice little village, with people just doing their own business, kids playing, occasional travelers coming by, and now…

Now there was nothing. The houses were ruined, the roads were snowed over, and the whole place was eerily silent, save for the occasional sounds of winter winds and some odd, nervous breathing, as if someone was still hiding out there, shivering with cold… **Wait.**

As Diana seemed preoccupied, having had stumbled upon another pack of imps – or, rather, the imps from before, that apparently have regained their "courage" and decided to go back – and was busy fighting them off, Akko decided to head over in the direction of where she heard the odd voice from.

The voice was a rather… Peculiar one. While it was certainly a feminine one, it sounded somewhat… Gloomy. As if the person it belonged to was not exactly the nicest type. But, at the very least, the voice did sound human, so…

It was mere moments in that the realization hit Akko like a freight train.

She realized just whom the demons were after for the entire past week.

Without thinking, the brunette rushed forward to the house she presumably heard the voice from, and threw the door open.

She was… Certainly not expecting what she just saw.

A girl with mauve hair and red eyes, her bangs covering her left eye, and a pair of short blade-like horns protruding from her head, was sitting in the far corner of the small house that Akko decided to check. The choice of the girl's clothes suggested that they weren't exactly her own, likely salvaged off from somewhere – the most that was visible on her, at least on the upper layer, was an old black hooded coat that covered her legs all the way down to her feet, and a pair of barely-holding-together winter shoes.

Honestly, however, the one detail that Akko paid the most attention to were obviously the blade-like horns.

There was no mistaking it. The girl may have looked human, but she was undeniably at least partially a **demon.**

Akko didn't know what to do. The most she really had a chance to fight were those very same imps that Diana so effortlessly took out in single shots, but this…

Hang on. The demoness wasn't attacking her. Far from it, the mauve-haired girl was instead cowering away from Akko, seemingly afraid of the brunette more than she was of her.

"G-go away… Don't hurt me, please… Those… Those demons, they… They chased me enough, I don't need any demon hunters on my tail now…" – As the violette continued speaking, her voice went from defiant, but afraid, to a quiet and subdued one, further confirming Akko's theory.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you, I promise." – Akko decided she might as well try to emphasize her point, and reached to take her weapon out so that she could put it down on the floor, showing that she wasn't going to hurt the odd girl… Only to fumble once more and drop it to the floor as it, bizarrely enough, fired off a random shot, provoking a fight or flight response from the mauve-haired demoness as she fired off a bolt of flames, with Akko barely managing to duck out of the way…

And said bolt hitting the last remaining imp out of the pack that Diana fought square in the face, forcing the damn thing to retreat for real.

"Demonic flame?" – Diana stated, seemingly confused as to where that random fireball could have come from. The imps were completely incapable of any magic, so it was out of question that she missed any imps during her fight, which meant that there was someone else out here. Seeing a trail in the snow, no doubt left by Akko as she ran into the derelict house, the blonde decided she might as well investigate.

Meanwhile, as Akko slowly but steadily got up, she noticed that the half-demoness was breathing heavily and rapidly, visibly scared out of her wits.

"Look, I promise, I won't hurt you. I'm sorry for fumbling with the gun like this, I'm kinda clumsy… Oh! I completely forgot to ask you your name!" – Oh, Akko, how typical of her to get to introductions at the most awkward of times.

"S-Sucy… My name is Sucy…" – The demon girl shakily replied.

"Aw, that's such a nice name! Mine is Akko! How did you end up-" – Before Akko could finish her sentence, however, Diana had barged into the house as well.

"What is that all about, Akko?" – The blonde asked, calmly, but sternly, before she noticed Sucy, who was now cowering away twice as badly, shivering not from the cold, but definitely out of pure fear. The violette was certain that if Akko wasn't going to kill her, then that blonde most certainly would.

"Lower your weapons!" – Akko shouted, bashing both guns out of Diana's hands, bizarrely prompting a few more acciidental shots, which, mercifully enough, didn't hit anyone, but that still didn't make the situation any easier.

"Akko, what is that all-" – Baffled.

"Listen, this girl right here? She is afraid of us more than we are of her, so-"

"Akko, just let me-" – Annoyed.

"Nuh-uh, you've got to lower your gun every now and then, lady, otherwise-"

"Akko, calm down and hear me out! I was **not** going to attack her!" – The blonde shouted out angrily, making Akko sheepishly yelp out a "Sorry.", then looked over at Sucy. The demoness was still cowering like no tomorrow, and it seemed that she only barely had enough energy to fire off a firebolt before being unable to use any demon magic whatsoever, so right now she felt completely defenseless, likely at mercy of however cruel the fate decided to be to her.

"So you were the one whom these demons were going after." – Diana stated, slowly walking over to Sucy, much to the girl's fear. Both she and Akko just now noticed that, apparently, the girl was incapacitated not just magically, but also physically – her coat slid up on her, revealing that her right knee was thoroughly wounded. A few deep scratches were present, but most jarring of all were the shards of glass stuck in the girl's knee.

"Oh dear…" – Akko remarked, looking over at Sucy's injured leg. After a few moments, she turned over to Diana, and after her questioning look was met with another, Akko specified: "Well, can't you heal her up or something? I mean, you do have healing magic, so-"

"That wouldn't be such a good option. Holy energy is toxic to demons after all, so if anything, my attempts to heal her would only worsen the condition. First things first, you might want to at least remove the glass shards. Then, I guess some more mundane medicine, like an ointment, might be required."

"Oh!" – As Akko rummaged around in her pockets, she took out a few random things – spare change, house keys, all the usual things, before getting out a small bottle of basic medicinal ointment and asking: "This good enough?"

"For the time being, It'll do. You'll also need to bandage her knee up, so here." – Diana procured a bandage from one of her coat's pockets. – "Take care of her while I check the surroundings for any remaining imps." – Diana remarked, exiting the house while Akko walked over to Sucy.

"So… This is kinda going to sting, so…"

"I'm not a little girl, Akko, I think I can tolerate it. " – Sucy deadpanned, showing her true colors for the time being.

"Oh… Well…Right, the glass shards."

Every single touch was agonizing, to say the least. Despite herself, Sucy often ended up wincing in pain as Akko took one shard out after another. Not to mention that demon blood often ended up burning an average human being's skin, said burns often taking a long time to heal, so-

Hang on, why would she be worried about **this**? She wasn't seriously concerned that this dim-witted human was going to just carelessly burn her hands, was she?

However, Akko seemed to be strangely capable of toughing it out, even though the smoke coming from the spots where Sucy's blood ended up on was a little unsettling. As Akko was finished with the nasty procedure, Sucy looked over at the brunette's hands – to her surprise, there wasn't a single burn mark on the asian girl's skin.

Perhaps it was only pure demon blood that was corrosive to human beings? Maybe. That was the sole plausible answer the violette could think of for the time being. She didn't have much time to think on the whole thing, however, as Akko went on to retrieve the ointment bottle she left on the floor for the time being.

Honestly, Akko did end up using a bit more ointment than she should have, but overall, she didn't seem to have any trouble from there on. Interestingly enough, despite the stinging, Sucy found herself feeling rather… Odd as Akko continued to do this. Strangely calm, even. Perhaps being near someone who was willing to alleviate her pain instead of causing more of it was having such an effect on her? No, it was probably just a side effect or something. Then again, somehow, when that brunette's apparent partner wasn't present, and she was left one-on-one with this little dimwit, Sucy felt strangely… Safe.

Before she could take these thoughts any further, however, Akko was already finished with the procedure. There was a bit of awkward silence until…

"You really didn't need to go that far. You could have just handed me the ointment and left, you know." – Sucy remarked in a semi-deadpan tone.

"Sure, but that wouldn't be very nice, would it?" – As much as the mauve girl hated to admit it, that air-headed human had a point. Still, she didn't dare admit, not even when Akko was finished with the overall pretty unpleasant procedure and continued to bandage her leg up as well.

"Whew. All done." – Akko remarked as she admired her handiwork – sure, the bandage was a little sloppily placed, but at the very least, it managed to cover the demon girl's wounded knee just enough. – "So, how did you get yourself injured so badly?"

Sucy just sighed and pointed over at a broken window mere meters away. The trail of dried blood leading over to where Sucy was when Akko found her gave enough of an idea what happened.

"Whoa… You had to jump straight through a window? But what were you-"

"Akko, are you done here?" – Diana called out as she entered the building. Looking over at Sucy's bandaged up leg and getting her answer, she added: "There are no more imps in the surrounding area. Seems like we scared them all off after all. Let's head home now."

"Wait, what about Sucy?" – Akko asked, not exactly keen on having to leave Sucy all alone in this filthy derelict.

Diana took a look at the demoness, then back at Akko, and afterwards, sighing in frustration, remarked: "Akko, we can't let her anywhere near the city. You know all too well how the inhabitants of Blytonbury react to demons. Not to mention that the Angel Sentinels won't let her anywhere near the city at all."

"But-"

"Akko, we did everything we could for her. At the very least, she should recover quickly enough to be capable of fending for herself. So there is no-"

"Do you two always talk about present company as if they're not here at all?" – Sucy deadpanned. Then, looking over at Akko, she remarked: "Besides, it's not like I'm going anywhere. I don't really have any point to go off from here anytime soon, and I can't travel through the Abyssal Plane like the pure-bloods. At the very least, I should be capable of fending any remaining stray imps off if they do come after me again. And if it gives you any consolation, Akko, we might just meet again."

"Oh… Alright then." – Akko dejectedly replied, getting up from the building's cold floor. – "Goodbye, then."

As Akko and Diana left the village, Sucy was pretty much left with her own thoughts.

As she took a few experimental steps, seeing that, while her knee still hurt a bit, she wasn't nearly so incapacitated as before, she sat back down on the floor, wondering about Akko's rather sudden display of hospitability. She did nothing to deserve that. And yet, there the brunette was, perfectly willing to help her as much as she could, and looking downright dejected when she was forced to abandon her for the time being instead of helping her even more.

She didn't seriously have any feelings for Akko, right? The brunette likely helped her out of pure altruism, and the most Sucy felt towards her was gratefulness, even if that help was completely pointless from a rational point of view. They just wasted quite a few valuable supplies for what? For helping out some random demon? And yet… She knew just what made her so curious about that dim-witted brunette.

_**There was no human being she knew that would be so hospitable to demons, that is for certain.  
** _


	2. Perception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The odd encounter seemed to have had an effect on Akko, as the next day, she is fully intent on making Sucy's life at least a tiny bit less miserable... Well, from her perception, that is. Diana, however, seems to be more than worried for Akko's safety, and discreetly follows her over to the derelict village that they first met Sucy in...

"Akko? Akko, is everything alright? Akko!"

For the entirety of the latest lesson for the day, Akko seemed to be in some sort of daze, as instead of writing down the usual class notes, or sleeping in class all over again, the brunette was staring somewhere off in the distance, looking lost in thought. Diana's voice seemed to be more than enough to snap Akko out of her daze, however, despite the school bell failing to do so a few minutes prior.

Members of the Human Order or not, Akko and Diana were still merely high school girls, so it was only natural that most of the demon-fighting, scouting and the like usually came by after the lessons were over. That being said, however, the school was well aware of their status, so it wasn't anything unusual if the duo suddenly had to run off in the middle of a lesson – the most they had to deal with was just some extra homework to catch up on anyway, and Diana seemed sociable enough to be able to ask some of her classmates for that whenever necessary. Not to mention that the teachers knew all too well about the Order anyway, although some of them were quite annoyed with two of their most notable students just running off in the middle of a lesson on some rare occasions.

While Akko was far from a good student, barely managing passing grades in most sciences, with the sole exceptions– A- at most, B- at least – being her grades in the "humanities", so to speak, Diana was pretty much the star student, especially in the more mathematical side of things. The blonde usually ended up having to walk Akko through the homework on the aforementioned mathematical subjects, as Akko found these to be a bit convoluted, to say the least, and often ended up helping the asian girl out with her homework. Most of the time, they opted to continue with their current homework way over at the Order's headquarters – the break room was usually quiet enough for studying, and they always had a chance to catch up on their gun training after they were done.

In any case, right now, as Akko snapped out of her momentary daze, she remarked: "Sorry, I was just a bit lost in thought."

"You're still thinking back to what happened yesterday, are you?" – Diana asked, having had stuffed her books into her schoolbag already.

"What'cha you two talking about?" – A certain tomboyish redhead remarked from behind the two, much to Diana's chagrin.

Amanda. A rather quirky Irish-American girl that was the captain of the Luna Nova High School's cheerleader team, and had nearly the same kind of reputation as Diana did, but on quite the contrary, she usually barely managed to get through with most subjects – mathematical and "humanities" alike – with a passing grade, although unlike Akko, she wasn't so much struggling with them as she just didn't care enough.

"Slept through the entire lesson again, O'Neill?" – Diana remarked as she gestured Akko to exit the classroom. However, that didn't really get Amanda off their trail, as the redhead followed right behind them still.

"Come on, Prissy, no need to change the subject! If you two were up to some "interesting" stuff, just tell me, I'm not like Hannah or Barbara who need every little opportunity to start an out-of-control gossip wave, y'know!" – Amanda retorted, beginning to downright annoy the brit.

"It's just the Order's business, and I'll leave it at that."

"That all? Just some demon slaying stuff? Bo-ring. Let me know when something hot – or, as you fancy-skirt like to say it, "unsavory" – happens, will ya? " – And with that said, Amanda ran off elsewhere.

"This girl, I swear…" – Diana remarked in an exasperated tone. Luckily, both she and Akko reached their lockers by now, and Amanda's locker was far enough from the duo's anyway, so at least they wouldn't bump into anyone else for the time being, except for just a few random students.

Gossip. Hmph. Yeah, as if there wasn't enough gossip surrounding the duo already. How many times did she need to tell Hannah and Barbera that she and Akko weren't girlfriends in a romantic sense? They were just partners in business, nothing more, nothing less. For crying out loud, just because Hannah and Barbera were in a relationship doesn't mean that every pair of girls commonly seen together in this school is! For all the respect Diana had for the odd couple, she still found dealing with their shenanigans even more problematic than with Akko's studying problems.

As Diana finished her trail of thought, caused by the stress she was going through lately, she just noticed that Akko hadn't said a word since the moment the british girl snapped her out of her daze. Interestingly enough, while Akko was busy sorting her stuff and getting her coat back on, she seemed just as lost in thought as she was in class.

"So, is it about what happened yesterday, or-"

"Yes. Yes it is." – Akko remarked as she slammed her locker door shut and walked past Diana. The blonde was rather befuddled by her close friend's behavior at the moment, but she was quick to snap out of it and run right after Akko

Moments after, outside the school, just as Diana caught up to Akko, she asked: "You're still worried about that demon girl, are you?"

No less exasperated than Diana was, Akko just groaned and, going limp, remarked: "It's just that… We don't know for how long Sucy was stuck in that derelict, or how she ended up there, or why those demons were chasing after her…" – The brunette frowned. – "It's all kinda sad, to be honest. She probably didn't deserve any of this."

"You're worrying about that random stray demon too much, you know. By the way, why were you so eager to help her out anyway? She was merely some down-on-her luck demon, so-"

Akko suddenly shot upright and shouted out: "Well hear me out, Cavendish! You saw a demon, I saw a girl that needed help! She was injured, had nothing but clothes on her back, and was miles away from any civilization! And if you let me, I'm sure we could help her out with more than just bandaging her wounds up! "

"And yet we still helped her the most we could. I'm fairly certain she can fend for herself just fine. And I already mentioned why she would be unwelcome here in the city. The Sentinels would just obliterate her without asking any questions, right there and then. And even if they wouldn't, the citizens are going to harass her like no tomorrow. Especially considering the incredibly unsavory stereotypes that surround female demons. " – The blonde explained calmly.

"Then, if we can't bring her **here** , I can at least try to make her time **there** a bit better!" – Akko remarked, and took the usual turn back over to the street where her family's house was at much earlier than usual.

"Wait, why are you going home? You were supposed to have gun training today, so-"

"I just need to take care of a few things, okay? Oh, and, uh, we're postponing our homework for the Monday to this Saturday. I'm probably not going to have much time left after today, so see ya tomorrow!" – Akko cheerfully remarked as she ran off. Diana just sighed at the whole situation. She knew all too well where the brunette was going to go off to afterwards.

". She can't just go out of the city on her own like this – she'll just get herself killed by some stray hellhounds or something like that! I…" – The blonde blushed for a bit. She couldn't believe that her train of thought was leading to her having to outright stalk Akko from her home, to the city gates, to the abandoned village where they encountered Sucy back then. – "I mean, I should just see to it that she makes it back home safely and doesn't get hurt, that's all… Yes, it's perfectly reasonable and there's nothing wrong with that…"

* * *

Well, Diana felt like a stalker alright.

And the way Akko was looking around suspiciously did not help matters. Moments after the conversation, Diana saw that Akko had exited her house with an almost completely packed bag. One thing was hiding off somewhere behind a snow pile, but something else was trying to track a person without being detected. By the Nine, for all the things Diana was good at, like gunfighting, magic, and studying, the blonde was far from stealthy. Partly because a blue-eyed blonde hailing from a rich family had trouble blending in with any crowd in general, partly because she often found herself above taking the more extreme measures, like hiding in particularly nasty places or burying into snow, and ended up lacking in effectiveness in her stealth. That was probably the main reason why she opted to learn one particular spell in her spare time, but alas, since the town had a thorough anti-magic field surrounding it, conjured up by the border Sentinels, the blonde had to resort to the more mundane options.

Having to follow Akko all the way to the town exit and into the outer lands wasn't much fun, either. Amusingly enough, both girls had to resort to the same lie to get past the city entrance Sentinels – specifically, telling that they're out on some "Order business", except that Diana had to add in that Akko was going with her, but ran off far ahead on her own.

Well, at least outside the city, Diana could freely use her holy magic.

While most newcomers to the Order were only taught the three basic holy spells – a healing spell that was only meant for lesser injuries, a spell that could create holy flames that Diana already had to use several times, and a light spell – Diana was one of the few more capable apprentices who studied other spells in her spare time – specifically, a spell that refracted the light around the caster in such a way as to make them invisible. It took quite a bit of concentration, and usually left the user slightly tired out as a result, but right now was a situation that called for it.

Making sure that Akko was relatively far enough, but not too far as to not leave Diana's line of sight, the blonde knelt down and chanted a spell.

" _May the light hide me from the prying eyes._ " – She recited, and soon enough, a white glow enveloped her. After it faded… Well, Diana was still able to see herself just fine, so that was a plus. She wasn't completely certain if the spell worked, to be exact, and hoped that if it does, then it won't run out at the worst of times.

The rest of the trek over to the derelict village was going by relatively quietly. Sure, Akko turned around to see if anyone was tailing her every now and then, but she was yet to be able to see through Diana's magic in any way – after all, as she looked at where the blonde stood, she saw nothing but a faint shimmer, and even that she shrugged off as just the snow simmering in the sun.

As Akko, and subsequently Diana, reached the village, the latter girl took a look around to see if Sucy was still there. Luckily, the brunette's search did not drag out for long – the horned girl was quietly sitting on the snow, rummaging through some odd package.

"Sucy!" – Akko called out, getting the half-demoness' attention. Diana decided not to push her luck, and hid behind a nearby building.

"Huh. Guess you weren't as airheaded as I thought." – The violette remarked as Akko rushed over to her and sat down next to her.

Upon ending up next to Sucy, Akko noticed just what package the demoness was rummaging through. It was one of those typical survival rations – packed inside was canned food, hardtacks, small jars of honey, or, simply put, food that didn't spoil easily.

Akko figured she'd better not pry at the matter as to where Sucy even salvaged it from.

"So, um… Although I can see that you're busy unpacking something here already…"

Sucy paused for a moment, as she was just about to pry open one of the canned meat, uh, cans, and decided to put the damn thing down for a moment.

"But… I figured you might want some more proper food… So I brought you some hot tea and a few sandwiches…" – As to emphasize her point, Akko rummaged through her bag and took out a thermos and a few neatly-packed sandwiches. After a few moments, realizing that she forgot something, the brunette facepalmed and reached in to take out a few small teacups as well.

"Well… I wouldn't call that generosity or altruism, but, eh, I guess it's the thought that counts." – As she reached for one of the sandwiches and partially unwrapped it, she added: "Besides, I'm getting sick of canned meat and hardtack already."

The duo was mostly silent for the next few minutes, quietly enjoying the meal that Akko brought along. Well, that is, until Akko gotten a little impatient and felt like striking up a conversation: "So… You still didn't tell me how you ended up all the way out here."

Downing another bite of the ham sandwich that she had with some tea, Sucy sighed and remarked: "Truth be told, I don't stick around anywhere for long. I'm kinda forced to keep up a more scavenger-like lifestyle – find a derelict to stay at for the time being, salvage the place for supplies, and try to last on what I have. I usually stick around for as long as I can, either until I run out of supplies… Or until the demons come after me all over again."

"Yikes… Why would they want you dead, though?" – Akko remarked, still holding her as of yet untouched sandwich.

"Queen Noire doesn't trust half-breeds. That's as much as I know on the matter."

Queen Noire – or, more precisely, Queen Lilithia Noire – was the current leader of the demons, and the current "controller" of the Abyssal Plane, keeping control of the many rifts that allowed lesser demons to enter the human world and managing any and all coordinated attacks. Recently, however, the demon queen was hell-bent on eradicating half-human hybrids, and while most of her subordinates' attacks were focused on random small human towns, it was only recently that she began hunting after Sucy specifically… For reasons that neither demons nor humans knew.

"Well, that's just plain awful! Just because a person was born different doesn't mean that they are inherently flawed or, Nine forbid, don't deserve to live! I-" – Akko paused with a rather confused expression as she saw Sucy snickering to herself, after which the brunette crossed her arms and asked: "What's so funny?"

"I… Sorry, you… I know you were serious, it's just… Well, you're a little too enthusiastic about such idealistic and naïve beliefs, you know?" – As Sucy calmed down, she explained: "The thing is, demons don't care about idealism. In the times of oppression, they need strong and reliable people. Me, I'm far from either of these."

"Don't say such things! Half-demon or not, I believe you're still a good person! After all- Oww!" – Akko immediately got scratched on the cheek by the very person she was talking to, interrupting her speech.

"I'm going to have to stop you before you begin some sort of cheesy uplifting speech. That's the last thing I need right now." – As if to emphasize her words, the violette jammed the last remaining piece of her sandwich into her mouth and downed it with the now almost entirely cooled-down tea. Wiping her lips with what was left of the wrapping, she remarked: "Anyway, thanks for the food, I guess. Say… You wouldn't mind bringing some sort of mushroom-stuffed buns next time you come around? That is, if you'll come around here again at all."

"Well, if you're not going anywhere… I suppose I'm not going anywhere as well." – The brunette scratched the back of her head and grinned sheepishly as she said that.

"Wow. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you've grown a little attached to me."

It was hard to predict where this conversation would trail off to…

Had it not been for a mess up on Diana's part. The blonde not only leant too far out from behind the corner she was peeking at the duo from…

But her spell ran out just in time as she fell face-first into the snow.

**Stealth really was the one thing she was weak in.**


	3. Reassurance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The conflict dissipates as quickly as it begins.

For the past few moments, the entire derelict was silent. The only sound out for miles was the howling of the winter wind, for neither Sucy, Akko, or Diana dared to speak up at this moment.

As Diana got up from the ground, and wiped the snow off her coat, Akko was the first to speak up:

"Diana? What are you doing all the way out here?"

"Wait, so you didn't sense her tailing you after all?" – Sucy asked, much to both Akko and Diana's confusion. Sighing, the violette elaborated: "Admittedly, I felt your presence from miles away, blondie. What you seem to have forgotten is that the invisibility spell has one tiny little drawback – it reeks of holy energy worse than a river of holy water could. I suppose that whoever made the books on these spells didn't bother with their fact checking, huh?"

Diana backed away at that statement. That… That demoness was probably just messing with her, wasn't she? There was no way she could have sensed her… Unless the spell really only worked on **lesser** demons after all…

"So you **knew** she was here all along? Why didn't you tell me?"- Akko asked, still confused.

"Wanted to see how long it would take for her to blow her cover, obviously." – The demoness deadpanned, although her wide toothy grin gave her real thoughts on the matter away like no tomorrow. – "And I dare say, you're one awful stalker, Diana."

"I… I was not stalking Akko. I just wanted to make sure she makes it back to the city safely, or doesn't get attacked on the way through. After all, going out of the city entirely unarmed and with miniscule knowledge of holy magic is far from a good idea, Kagari." – She remarked, glaring over at Akko.

"Well, I just didn't want to mess things up, that's all! You know that I'm way too clumsy with guns for my own good!" – The brunette retorted, her excuse being quite flimsy.

"Or you just didn't think it through and rushed out to go on with your plan. Even though you went out there entirely defenseless, didn't tell me a thing – although I did know where exactly you were going anyway…"

"Tell you what, blondie, you wouldn't have to worry about the first one – I'm not as weak as when you two stumbled upon me the day before. I guess I **can** scare off a few stray imps coming after me." – Sucy deadpanned, interrupting Diana's long speech.

While the trio was busy bickering, they didn't notice a creature slipping through from the abyss not too far away from them. It was only after they heard a chilling howl that they realized just what happened.

" **A hellhound.** " – Diana remarked, already preparing to use a holy flames spell to deter the damn thing if necessary.

Soon enough, the creature emerged from behind a building and into the wide open area, in all of it's grotesque glory.

The hellhounds mostly resembled emaciated shepherd dogs, covered in wounds with liquid lava near-constantly seeping through them, every drop sizzling right through the snow it landed upon. Their eyes were a blood red color, their fangs looked outright rotten in some places, but the few intact ones were remarkably sharp, and yet anyone who encountered a hellhound before knows all too well that the fangs, despite them being quite the disease vectors, are their least dangerous feature – for in their throats, an overwhelming flame constantly burned, only let out when they had the intent to bite someone. It was a flame that no ordinary human being could survive – even if the resulting burn was non-lethal, it would never heal.

The most noticeable feature of these hounds, aside from their limited fire-breathing abilities, were their collars. Collars made out of ash-covered **animal bones**.

"Stand back, everyone. Especially you, Akko." – As Diana said that, she gestured both girls to get behind her. As much as Akko wanted to protest, she, for once, decided to think rationally and immediately dove for cover behind the blonde, while Sucy remarked "Not going to happen, blondie" and stood up from the snow, lighting a blood-red flame in her hand.

"What do you think you're doing?" – Diana whispered as the hellhound began approaching her and Sucy.

"The puppy needs a lashing. Your holy flames are only going to annoy it further, and not do a damn thing." – As Sucy spoke, the flames in her hands began taking on an odd shape, eventually forming what seemed to be a whip made out of flames.

The hellhound immediately rushed at the duo, and Diana immediately threw a holy flame bolt right at the creature. At first, it seemed to work, as the abomination staggered and backed off for a bit… Only to sprint towards the duo at full force yet again.

Even worse, as Diana kept hurling bolts of holy flames, it was as if they were basically spitballs to the creature, as it either avoided most of them, or shrugged off the ones that hit it completely. Sucy, however, was stoically standing there, the fire whip in her hand burning ever stronger.

"Wait for it…"

The hound was close enough to lunge at the duo.

"Wait for it…"

The creature arched back…

"Hi-yaah!" – Sucy immediately lashed at the creature with her flame whip, making it jump back. The whip didn't even remotely hit the hellhound, merely cracked against the snow, the resulting sound being an odd mix of a whip crack and a fiery explosion, with the snow melting in an uneven circle around the impact point. The hellhound barked in shock and immediately jumped back. However, the look in Sucy's sole visible eye suggested that she was not yet done with this.

"Bad dog! Shoo! Go back!" – The violette punctuated each of her lashings with a subdued shout. Diana could only watch the odd situation unfold right before her, as every lashing the whip was mere inches away from the canine, hitting the snow and leaving charred marks in the ground underneath it. Eventually, the hellhound was backed against a wall, whimpering like a scared poodle.

"Back to the Abyss with you!" – Sucy lashed out at the monstrosity one last time, hitting it square in the forehead, before the damn thing turned tail and escaped through a rift that seemingly opened out of nowhere in the very same wall it was backed against.

Akko, meanwhile, was quietly watching the events unfold, and, after the initial bewilderment, asked an all-too-obvious question: "Is… Is the hellhound gone now?"

"I… I suppose it is." – Diana replied, still not believing what she saw just now.

"See? I guess it's not just imps that I can scare off after all. As for your holy flames… Well, considering that you were probably drained out already by that other spell of yours, it's a no-brainer that you ended up basically throwing spitballs at that literally damned hound. But maybe, just maybe, you could have hurt it quite significantly if you were at full strength. " – Sucy explained. – "Meanwhile, my Hellfire Whip was at almost full power, and I had more than enough energy to lash at the little pupper all day long."

"Yikes… That sounds cruel." – Akko remarked.

"Lesser demons only understand the language of cruelty. Of course, you could have also brought along a gun, but let's be real here, the only thing you would accomplish by killing it is drawing the ire of more demons – they **hate** the smell of their brethren's blood. Then again, I doubt that you'd do anything more than annoy the hound if you were to bring along an unblessed gun. " – The violette punctuated that last phrase with a quiet smirk.

A wintery silence lingered around the derelict for a few more moments. The wind from before seemed to have dissipated as well, so the place was entirely silent for these few moments, until…

"Well, I suppose we did what we could here. We've got to go now, Akko." – Diana remarked, pulling the brunette along with her.

"But Diana, I was…" – Akko didn't even get to finish her speech as she got dragged off by the blonde, who proceeded to explain: "Who knows how many more demons are going to show up here if a hellhound made it all the way out there. It's only for the better that we leave the place at once."

"What?! And leave Sucy to fight the damn things off alone if they **do** show up?!" – The asian girl shouted in response.

"Eh, don't worry, you two, they're not going to be showing up here on such constant basis. I guess this particular hound stumbled upon us completely randomly or something." – Sucy remarked from nearby, considering that they were still in one another's hearing range.

"Well… I suppose that's reassuring? See you later then, Suce!" – Akko remarked as she and Diana went on to leave the area.

Having nothing better to do, Sucy decided she might as well drag the recently-unpacked ration back to the building she usually stayed out at.

* * *

"Well, the answer seems to correlate, and the calculations… Well, they could use a little cleanup, but they get the point across and lead to all the right answers. Well done. "

Back at the city, in the break room of the Order's headquarters, Akko and Diana were busy with their homework for the next day, and currently had finished the last few assignments.

The room was as bland as it could get, really - white wallpaper with a generic pattern, a bunch of black chairs, a long table, and a sofa on the other end of the room, with the sole light source within the room being a small, unfitting with the blandness of the place chandelier.

"Whew… I'm beat." – Akko remarked as she closed the notebook and tossed it back into her backpack.

"I suppose we should call it a day and postpone your gun training for a less busy day?" – Diana asked as Akko lifted her backpack up and put it back on.

"Yeah. Better get home until folks get worried about me." – The brunette tiredly replied.

"Mind if we walk back over to your place together?"

"Sure, why not."

On the way back to Akko's place, the duo was mostly talking about the more recent events.

"Still, did you really have to stalk me all the way to the derelict? That… Wasn't really nice, you know." – As Akko said that, Diana couldn't help but turn a little off to the side. – "You could have just asked me where I was going and I'd let you tag along."

"Yes, well… I presume I was a little too worried about your well-being, and didn't think this particular plan through. And, for all my problems with you going all the way out there entirely unarmed, I guess I did no better by not bringing my guns along…" – The blonde replied, looking almost a little guilty.

"Eh, it's alright. I myself royally screwed up by going all the way out there under-geared. I guess we both did a few things wrong. But hey, it's no big deal! " – Akko remarked.

"So… You do forgive me?"

"I wasn't even mad at you, silly!" – The brunette gave Diana a light nudge on the shoulder, prompting a quiet chuckle from the girl.

"I suppose that was taken care of. Now, from what I could gather when I overheard your conversation back there, you promised to go visit Sucy again tomorrow, didn't you?" – The brit asked as they neared Akko's house.

"Well, yeah, I mean, I can't just have her munching on some random salvaged rations all the time, you know?" – Akko remarked, shrugging.

"You seem to really care about her." – Diana remarked, her voice sounding a bit… Forlorn? No, that was probably just Akko's imagination. The brunette was a little taken aback by what she presumably heard, and stammered: "Well… Yeah, I mean, I'm more than willing to help a person in need after all!"

"Still as charmingly altruistic as ever, I see. Well, see you tomorrow, then! And don't go off unarmed again, will you?" – The blonde replied, leaving for somewhere else while Akko went back to her house.

"Okay, I won't, bye!" – The brunette shouted as she peeked out through the open door, waving at Diana, who was currently quietly walking away.

* * *

Later that day, during the night, as Sucy lied in the bedroll she salvaged from elsewhere within the derelict, she was wondering just what was it about Akko that seemed to make her feel so… Odd. She couldn't really describe the feeling in great detail. The most abstract way to describe it would be that no matter what else happened, she felt that she could trust Akko. And somehow, she felt that if Akko weren't unarmed back then, and if Diana didn't force her to stay back, she'd probably rush at that hellhound head-first. Sure, that asian girl was a little bull-headed, but hey, no one's perfect after all. Besides, that brunette was actually kind of cute, so-

Sucy couldn't help but jolt up a bit as she did a mental double-take on that thought.

Well… Yeah, that brunette was by no means ugly, sure, but… The violette still couldn't believe she'd ever call another girl **cute**. Let alone have that girl be wholly human.

Deciding not to give it too much thought, the violette went back to sleep. Although, the fact that Akko appeared in her dreams every now and then made her feel even odder. She found herself reliving some strangely… Twisted versions of her first meeting with Akko.

From having Akko kiss her wounded knee instead of bandaging it up, to having the brunette closely hug her after she was done with the treatment, to having the brunette get dangerously close to her… Those images were strangely invasive.

Nah, that… That just wasn't possible. She couldn't possibly be in love with that little idiot. Besides, love at first sight is just a myth. Or maybe she's having some unresolved tension. Y-yeah, that's… That's the most plausible answer, right?

**Right?**

* * *

Meanwhile, as Diana quietly lied in her luxury bed, she was admittedly tossing and turning like no tomorrow as she attempted to fall asleep.

She was just worried about Akko, that was all. That was why she followed her all the way out there… She just wanted to make sure that Akko would make it back home safely. After all, she wouldn't want to lose her close **friend** , right? She wouldn't forgive herself if that little moron got herself hurt or if, Nine forbid, she were to find her lifeless body in the snow, blue from the cold, with wounds covering her body and holes burnt through her clothing…

Yikes. As Diana admitted to herself, her imagination ran a little too wild with that one. She couldn't help but shudder at the mental image.

What had her even more worried, however, wasn't the possibility of Akko running into a bunch of lesser demons and getting herself hurt… But rather, there was something about Sucy that made her feel a little worried.

The half-demoness was being surprisingly close with Akko. And the brunette didn't seem to mind Sucy's presence, either. Even though humans are naturally bothered by the demons' presence within the mortal world and so close by – at least from her own understanding of these matters. The blonde felt like she needed to go through her books on demons in her spare time again to see if she missed any important details.

Well, Sucy would have no reason to hurt Akko anyway. The asian girl saved her life, she herself was on the run from demons for reasons that she was yet to understand, and yet…

**Why did Diana feel so uneasy whenever she saw Sucy and Akko so closely together?**


	4. Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One particular day, Akko not only finds out some interesting truths about Sucy, but it also turns out that Sucy might be leaving soon. However, something might just go wrong... After all, nothing's as easy as you would expect it to be.

"So, you still haven't told me a few things."

A few days have passed. Akko was visiting the derelict quite regularly, in hopes of meeting up with Sucy every now and again. Sure enough, the brunette never came empty-handed, always bringing some food for her odd companion – if anything, her presumptions about the sheer blandness of these rations that Sucy stumbled upon beforehand were all too true. So Akko knew that she was doing her friend quite a favor. Especially whenever she brought along the half-demoness' favorite mushroom-stuffed buns.

Lo and behold, right now the violette was busy munching down on another one of these, and paused for a moment after she heard the asian girl's question. Swallowing what little she bit off of the simple yet tasty snack she had, the half-demoness asked: "What is it?"

"Well, I don't know where you came from, which of your parents was the demon, and-"

"Don't you think you're prying a bit too much, Akko?"

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Diana had insisted to tag along with Akko. Considering the brunette couldn't handle a gun and was lacking in terms of holy magic skill, it was no wonder that someone else would have to follow her to the abandoned village, as to make sure she doesn't get attacked on the way there.

"Right, maybe I really am prying a bit too far…" – Akko remarked, looking down a bit.

"Nah, it's alright. If anything, there is a lot I wanted to talk about. Just… Not with a third wheel present." – Sucy looked over at Diana as she said that, furrowing her brows slightly to emphasize the point. The blonde sighed and remarked: "Fine, I suppose I'll stay out of this."

"So…" – As Akko noticed her partner leave to look around the derelict some more, she asked: "I guess the first appropriate question would be, where you even came from? Like, were you born in the Abyss or-"

"Not quite. My mother was… Well… She was **summoned** into the human world, to better put it."

An odd silence persisted throughout the derelict after Sucy said that. The wind was awfully quiet lately, so once again did the whole derelict go as silent as if no one was present.

"Summoned? As in, through some sort of demon summoning ritual or-"

"Exactly. Some down-on-his luck fellow got his hands on the reagents needed to summon a succubus-type demon, and his ritual was surprisingly successful. Although…" – Sucy paused for a moment and sighed, before continuing: "It wasn't so much "summon" as "rip her right out of the Abyssal plane against her will", to be exact."

"Whoa… That sounds awful enough already. What would he summon her for anyway?" – Akko asked, taking a quick sip from her cup of tea.

"The same thing that all succubi are usually summoned for, obviously. " – The half-demoness then reached back over for her mushroom-stuffed bun, leaving Akko to process what she just said. And after a few moments, she got the intended reaction, with the brunette yelling "Eww!" as she realized what the other girl was implying.

"And, well, I was an unlucky little accident, if you could say so." – As the violette finished her snack off and downed it with some now cooled tea, she elaborated: "I could go on for days how I was an unwanted child conceived entirely by accident, how badly my father mistreated both me and my mother, and how he eventually got what's coming to him, but I'm not feeling like telling some sort of cheesy sob story right now."

"Wow. You've probably had quite a difficult life, didn't you?" – Akko asked, looking rather dejected by what Sucy said – even if she only mentioned her plight entirely off-handedly.

"I've gotten used to my life being complete and utter crap, to be honest. No need to pity me. Besides, I already mentioned that my father's got what was coming for him. Not going to miss him, that is for sure." – The horned girl stood up from the ground and, after brushing the snow off her backside, remarked: "Well, it was nice to talk to you for a bit. I guess I stuck around for long enough, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave this place quite soon."

Wait… **Leave?**

Hearing that immediately made Akko freeze, and not just from the cold weather.

They only recently became close friends, and Sucy already wants to leave?!

"What?! Why?" – The brunette asked, completely dejected.

"Well, that's just how I go by with my life. Travel over to some derelict, salvage what I can, stick around for a while if possible, and move on elsewhere. " – Sucy remarked, her tone of voice suggesting that it was outright casual to her.

"B-but… Are you at least going to be close by? Surely there must be another place that's close to Blytonbury and-" – Akko was interrupted by Sucy shaking her head in disagreement, and drooped down with a disappointed "Aww…".

"I can't even show up anywhere too close to an angel-protected settlement. They'll just obliterate me on sight, and I kinda still want to live – I hate my life, sure, but not by that much. And even if I were to settle in an unprotected settlement, well… Either they're going to drive me right out, or I'll get a bunch of demons on my tail all over again, it never ended up differently. And if the latter's going to be easy – after all, it's not like a small human settlement is something to weep over – the former is going to be a bit too much of a thorn in my side, as some humans are a bit too persistent for their own good, and are probably going to chase you to Abyss and back. So yeah, I guess I'll just have to go scavenging towards another derelict that may be even further away from the city than this place. "

Akko's eyes immediately got teary as Sucy explained the reasons for her departure. She immediately rushed over at the violette and tightly hugged her, outright crying as she shouted: "Please, don't go, Sucy!"

"What's going on?" – Diana asked as she approached the duo, having decided to check up on them. She then noticed the outright bawling brunette crying on Sucy's shoulder and added: "And why is Akko crying?"

"She's just upset I'm going to leave and not show up around here for quite a while." – As the demoness said that, Akko's bawling intensified.

It just wasn't fair! The brunette recently made a new friend, seemed to have gotten along with them quite well, and now they have to part to never meet again?

"Akko, calm down… It's not like she's going to depart right now, right?" – Diana remarked, placing her hand on the crying girl's shoulder and trying to comfort her in at least some way. Not that it helped much, as Akko remarked through her tears: "N-no, b-but she's still going t-to leave and n-never come b-b-baaack!"

Sucy couldn't help but groan at the situation. She herself wasn't happy about having to leave this lovable idiot, but that was just what the circumstances at hand dictated, so, in a vain attempt to calm the brunette down, she replied: "If it makes you feel any better, you can come over tomorrow afternoon to say goodbye to me."

"Y-you're going to leave tomorrow?!" – Akko looked up at Sucy, her eyes still incredibly teary as she said that. The violette immediately realized she made a mistake with her wording, but before she could correct herself, Akko resumed her crying.

"Mind to pry her off me?" – Sucy deadpanned, looking over at Diana. The blonde quietly nodded and pulled the brunette off the half-demoness' body. Mercifully enough, Akko seemed to have calmed down, only quietly sobbing as she covered her face with her hands.

"Seems to me someone's gotten way more attached to me than I expected… Didn't see that coming. " – The violette continued, still looking over at Akko who was just quietly wiping her tears off and looking downright miserable.

"And you've only known each other for about a week or so, too." – Diana added, looking over at Akko. Wow, never did she expect the brunette to get so madly attached to a complete stranger. Sure, Akko was the type of person to quickly make new friends and get easily attached to them, but this was something else entirely. However, the brunette seemed to have begun calming down, as she took a deep breath and apologized: "S-sorry… I… Uh… Must have lost control for a moment. It's just that…" – Akko looked up at Sucy and, swallowing hard, continued: "We've only recently became such close friends, and yet… You're already leaving… It's just…" – The asian girl then once again looked down and sighed, her breath a little jittery.

Once again, a relative silence persisted throughout the derelict for a few more moments, before Sucy attempted to reassure Akko: "Hey, no need to worry your silly self about it. I mean, who knows, maybe I'll show up around here once again later, right?"

"But still, I'm really, really going to miss you. We've only known one another for about a few weeks, but…" – Akko sighed and, after a few moments, just went silent, dejectedly looking off somewhere into the distance.

"Akko, we'd better get back to the city now. We can't stay within this derelict any longer for the time being." – Diana calmly explained, and after being met with Akko's teary eyes, attempted to reassure her: "If anything, we'll come back tomorrow and say our farewells to Sucy, just as she mentioned."

"It's not like I'm going to be in any particular rush to leave anyways." – Sucy added. While Akko didn't seem to calm down completely, she still managed to at least somewhat regain her composure, as she quietly nodded and let Diana lead her out of the derelict, with Sucy unenthusiastically waving back to the duo as they left her with nothing but her own thoughts to keep her company.

As Sucy looked around the place, she felt an odd sense of coldness. While previously, leaving any of the places she settled over at seemed like nothing new and just a part of her lifestyle, now… Now Sucy felt like she didn't want to leave the place whatsoever. It wasn't the musky snowed-over derelict that she gotten attached to, no, Nine forbid. She thought back to all that happened between her and Akko, and couldn't help but wonder…

**Was she also feeling so attached to that little airhead?**

* * *

"What's the matter, dear?"

Later that day, during the evening, Akko was quietly sitting behind the dining table over at her family's apartment, poking her dinner with a fork idly and occasionally sighing in dismay.

"Akko, is everything alright?" – The young brunette's mother asked, trying to snap her out of her dejected state.

If one were to look at Akko and then at her mother, one could clearly see that there was quite the uncanny family resemblance going on – the only few things Akko had that differed from her mother's was her bright red eye color compared to the older woman's more mundane brown color, and that's where it mostly ended, as otherwise, Akko practically looked like a younger version of her mother, down to wearing the same hairstyle almost all the time.

"Sorry, mom… I'm not hungry today." – The younger brunette remarked, pushing her plate away from her. Her mother walked over to her and touched her forehead with her hand.

Seeing that her daughter's body temperature was relatively normal, the older woman remarked: "Well, you don't seem to be sick or anything like that. What happened?"

Akko didn't know where to start with this. What was she going to tell her mom? That she befriended a demon and is now upset that said demon is going to leave and that they'll never meet again?

"Well… Let's just say I've gotten a new friend recently…" – Akko decided to start from afar, not going into any detail.

"Then why are you upset?"

"I'm getting there, mom! And that friend is… Going to leave soon and never show up, not until after a really, really long while! So… That's why I'm feeling a little down today." – The younger brunette tried to stay as vague in her terms as possible as she spoke.

"Oh… Why didn't you tell me about her earlier?"

"Because, um…" – Well, now Akko dug herself a tad deeper than needed, so she had to make something up. After a bit of thinking on how to turn this around, she said: "She's a transfer student from our high school. Truth is, I've, uh… Only gotten to know her about a week or so ago, and yet… She's already going to leave soon, and I don't know if she's going to ever show up around here again."

"Why can't you just keep up a long-distance relationship, then?" – Akko was certainly lucky that her mother didn't get even remotely suspicious and took her lies hook, bait and sinker.

The younger brunette sighed, and, a bit more confident with her lies, answered: "H-her parents are kinda, uh… Technophobics? I think that's the word… So, yeah, she doesn't have a phone of her own, and doesn't use a computer."

"Hmm… Well, I can't help out much here." – The older woman admitted dejectedly. – "If she's from particularly far away, I can only imagine how high the mail bills might get for her, too… So I suggest you go on and say your goodbyes to her while you can. Maybe even leave her a gift to remember you by."

"Maybe I should. Thanks for the advice, mom." – Akko remarked, getting up from her seat and giving her mother a soft hug. As she let go of the older woman, she immediately ran right off to her bedroom.

Digging through the complete mess that was her room, Akko rummaged through various piles of various trinkets and figurines. After a long while, the asian girl finally found what she was looking for. An odd lily keychain made out of some shiny, but rather cheap metal, and with a very small cheap zirconium crystal embedded into the center of the flower, right in the middle between the petals.

**Somehow, she felt that this particular parting gift would be just right.**

* * *

_**So, you think you're so clever, hiding out within that Nine-forgotten derelict?** _

_**You fail to understand one thing, pathetic little filthblood.** _

_**We know where you're hiding. We know no one will be there to save you.** _

_**And we know you can't escape.** _

_**You will die by my hand, you half-breed filth.** _


	5. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Akko and Diana go to say their goodbyes to Sucy, it turns out that it won't be so easy. More goodbyes will be said than either of them expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew. I'm finally back after a long period of absence! I was stuck in the hospital for three weeks straight due to a... Rather painful and complicated condition. Let's just say surgery was necessary, two times in a single hospital stay. Anyway, I hope I'm not too rusty after a month's worth of break.

This was certainly one of those times that Akko wasn't her usual chipper self. The brunette was slowly trudging through the snow together with Diana, holding what was possibly going to be a parting gift that will likely be the only thing that Sucy will have to remember Akko by for quite a long time – she was certain that the demoness would be absent for several years or so, if she really was going to be very far away from the city. Even walking over to the derelict which Sucy formerly stuck around in took quite a long while, and the only sound out for miles being the winter breeze did not help matters.

"Akko?" – Diana's voice briefly broke Akko out of her thoughts, making her lift her gaze up from the tiny trinket in her hands.

"Huh? Sorry, I was just… Nevermind." – The brunette sighed as she stuck the keychain back into her coat pocket.

"I'm fairly certain Sucy will give you enough time to say your goodbyes." – Diana wasn't really good at reassuring others, that was for certain, as the moment Akko heard the blonde say that, she sighed dejectedly and closed her eyes.

"I… I'm sorry. I just don't really know how to deal with situations like these. I mean-" – Before Diana could finish, she noticed that Akko was sniffling softly, and presumed that the brunette was already crying. – "Akko, look, I'm fairly certain you two are going to meet again someday, and by that time-"

"Diana, I'm not crying. I… I think I smell **smoke** coming from the derelict. Not just any smoke, too **. Sulfur fumes.** "

**Demons.**

Akko immediately sped up and ran forward, rushing through the nearly ankle-deep snow and occasionally stumbling, with Diana trying her damndest to keep up with her, especially considering that the snow did little to impede the brunette.

"You don't think… That they could have… Attempted another… Full-scale attack…Do you?" – Diana asked in-between breaths as she barely kept up with the brunette.

"I can outright sense it – **Sucy is in danger!** Look! " – As the derelict came into view, both Akko and Diana saw quite the sizable horde of demons all over the place. Imps, hellhounds, there were even a few Nightmares amongst the crowd!

Nightmares. Honestly, one couldn't think of a more appropriate name for those… Creatures. Vaguely horse-shaped aberrations of smoke and flames, with their eyes burning so bright that one might think a single glare from them is enough to start a fire. But their way of killing a possible victim are, compared to lesser beasts like the hellhounds, are probably what they're most known for. If a Nightmare is staring down at you dead-center, the most you can do is close your eyes as tightly as you can, and pray that it isn't too late – by the time you begin feeling like molten gold is flowing through your veins, you'll know it's too late. Once a nightmare is through with you, they won't hesitate, and will just burn your remains into more ashes to add to their mass. Fighting a Nightmare physically is almost impossible – without holy magic, you can't even harm these things, and even if you have access to the necessary offensive spells, you better aim really well and act quickly. Luckily, for all their power and agility, the Nightmares are quite fragile – a few well-placed holy flame bolts to the head will make them dissipate in a moment.

" _Cleansing Flames!"_ – The moment Diana saw that Nightmares were amongst the ranks of demons, she had both her guns unsheathed and immediately cast the aforementioned spell. The white-colored flames immediately enveloped the firearms. Afterwards, Diana fired off a dual shot at a distracted Nightmare, the bullet coming out as a lightning-quick bolt of holy flames. The projectile hit the aberration's head right on, and the end result was perfectly visible – the creature went up in white flames, and soon dissipated into nothing but some ashes on the snow.

"What was that for?!" – Akko asked, not really keen on the fact that her normally level-headed comrade had decided to get the demons' attention.

"Rule number one of skirmishes against demons - the Nightmares have to be killed off first." – The blonde explained as the demons surrounding the remains of the abomination turned their attention to the duo. – "I'll distract the demons while you go find Sucy."

"I just hope I won't be too late… With the sheer numbers of these beasts, Sucy could have very well been overwhelmed…" – As Akko said that, she unsheathed her gun, and rushed forward, right through the hordes of demons, who were, luckily for the brunette, dead-focused on Diana right now. As she arrived to the clearing in the center of the derelict, she gasped at what she saw.

A centaur-like demon that was at least two meters tall was currently standing over a downed Sucy, keeping her right under his front hoof, and occasionally pressing down, eliciting screams of pain from the mauve-haired demoness.

**An archdemon.**

"Scream some more, filthblood. Soon you'll be crushed like the useless little bug that you are!" – The monster bellowed out, his voice as deep as it was loud. Judging from how Sucy's blood was burning through her coat, the demoness was already thoroughly injured even before ending up between a rock and a demon's hoof, and the creature enjoyed every moment of the half-demoness' pain.

"Get away from her, you brute!" – Akko immediately took her gun out and fired off a few shots, aiming for the archdemon's head. Of course, blessed gun or not, the brunette still had problems aiming, so every single bullet whizzed right past the demon's face, getting his attention. As soon as he turned around to look at Akko, the girl pulled the trigger a few more times only to realize that she emptied out the entire magazine. Uh-oh.

"So, it turns out that the filthy halfling isn't so alone after all." – The centaur-like creature remarked as it looked over Akko, who was trying her best to not appear scared in any way.

"Akko… You idiot… Get out of here. He's going to kill you… He's- Aaauuugh!" – By the Abyss, not again! The archdemon pressed his heavy hoof down upon the half-demoness' back once more, and Sucy could swear she heard a few bones snap from the sheer pressure.

"Shut up, filth! No one here gave you the right to speak!" – As the archdemon said that, he kicked Sucy off to the side, making her roll over the snow and leave a few red marks, indicating how much damage was already done. – "How rude of you to just run over to Astaroth himself with your poor excuse for a weapon, right as Astaroth was in the middle of disposing of another useless piece of filth! How very rude!"

"Leave her alone this instant or else!" – Akko had dropped her gun already, as she knew she had to resort to holy magic. And truth be told, the brunette was no better at magic than she was at gunfighting, but right now, she didn't care. She had to do something, **anything** to save Sucy!

"Or else what? You humans are always like that, mouthing threats that you are unable to follow through with! Astaroth will most certainly enjoy ripping you apart limb from limb, you pesky little bug!" – The demon was slowly making his way over to Akko, who still didn't even flinch, and attempted to cast at least something to not just protect herself, but to at least let Sucy hang on **just a little longer!**

"Akko, you idiot… You're going to die… Like… Like **me…** " – The mauve-haired demoness remarked, and in the next few moments, she passed out from the sheer pain and injury.

No…

No…

No, no, no, no, **no!**

**Not like this!**

It was at this moment that Akko wasn't simply angry at Astaroth, but downright mad. Not only was he insulting Akko in her face, but Sucy was now gone because of him!

"You…" – Tears streamed down Akko's face as she looked up at the archdemon.

"What's the matter? Is the puny human feeling sorry for the useless little piece of filth?! Don't fret – if she went to the same afterlife as you humans do, you will join her quite soon!" – And with that said, Astaroth immediately charged at Akko, his hooves thundering against the snowed-over ground… Only for Akko to look up at the creature, her eyes seething with rage, as she said: " **You will pay for this.** "

A surge of holy energy flowed through Akko's entire body. Starting from her very heart, flowing all through her limbs and seemingly circulating at her fingertips… As the energy became downright overbearing, escaping the brunette's body through her hands and surrounding her in a blinding white glow, Akko slammed both her hands onto the ground and shouted out: " **Grand Cross!** "

Those two words were enough to make Astaroth stop in his tracks, mere paces away from Akko.

 _The Grand Cross was a spell that many demons had severely dreaded, and for all the right reasons – the sheer concentration of holy energy released by this spell, often intertwined with the strength of many human and angel souls that existed before the potential caster wasn't simply fatal to demons – no, it was strong enough to outright erase any traces of the existence of any demons unfortunate enough to be caught up within the spell, spiritual or physical._  
  
As Diana saw the cross-shaped outline of light from afar, just as she finished off few of the remaining hellhounds, she gasped in realization. The few demons that were still onto her had their survival instincts get the better of them, and they immediately attempted to retreat as far away as they could.

_Unfortunately, the spell had it's share of consequences. An angel often risked losing their inherent holy magic as a result of attempting to use such a spell at full power, and a human, more often than not, would simply be unable to survive the spell, as it would end up draining not only their inherent magic that flowed through their body, but very often it would end up burning up their very soul, leaving nothing more than a dead, soulless husk, it's owner not even having a chance at the afterlife and practically ceasing existence._

"Akko!" – The blonde immediately sheathed both her guns and rushed over to the source of the light.

_Mercifully enough, such a spell was simply unable to be cast by sheer accident. For a human to pull off even the weakest variation of Grand Cross, with the coverage of said spell being a mere hundred feet, they would have to have the magic potential of some of the most powerful angels to have ever stepped into the mortal world._

As for the brunette, she was currently floating just barely off the ground in the middle of a pillar of light that made up the base of the "cross" created by the spell, both her hands lowered, tears staining the girl's face as she angrily looked at the archdemon that couldn't back off in time, and was now paying the price for it, slowly but steadily disintegrating into complete nothingness.

_More often than not, if a person with such potential were ever to be born, they were taught extreme self-control. Not only as to not end up accidentally sacrificing their very lives…_ _**But to avoid harming those close to them.** _

"Akko! Don't do it! " – Diana screamed as she rushed over to Akko. Alas, the holy energy repelled the blonde and threw her right into the snow.

_Even though the spell was designed to be fatal to demons and only demons, the sheer concentration of holy energy had enough force to hurt any ordinary human beings and angels alike, the field of energy surrounding the caster repelling anyone who dared to come too close.  
_

Diana got up and noticed just what was the cause of Akko's unstoppable rage.

_That being said, such a spell wasn't always kept going until the user's inner magic reserves ran out. It was very much possible to interrupt the spell._

Rushing over to Sucy, the blonde immediately checked the mauve-haired demoness' pulse. A few bits of demon blood that still burned through the demoness' salvaged coat had gotten onto Diana's hands, and the burning was near-agonizing, but it mattered not to the blonde. Muttering a quick clairvoyance spell, the blonde concentrated _…_ And it wasn't long until she got what she needed to know. What was needed to stop Akko from unwittingly sacrificing her very life.

_If the person pulling off the spell was at a risk of hurting their loved ones in the process, and were made at least a tiny bit aware of it, it was not uncommon for them to unwillingly cancel the spell. Of course, depending how far in they were, it could have very well been too late, and they would lose their magic power or their very life…_

"Akko! Sucy is still alive! Please, stop this! You're going to **hurt her!** " – Diana shouted out as she held the unconscious half-demoness in her hands, desperately hoping that it still wasn't too late for Akko.

The brunette went wide-eyed at the realization, her expression shifting from a shocked gasp to a resigned frown as she slowly descended back onto the ground. Unfortunately, the spell had tired her out, and it was mere moments after her feet touched the snowed-over ground that she fell down on her knees.

"Sucy… Diana… I'm sorry…" – Akko practically fell down onto Diana's hands, as the blonde had rushed over to her mere moments in. The brunette's normally bright and vibrant eyes were now dull and lifeless, her eyelids almost closed, her breathing slow and almost inaudible.

"She is merely unconscious. But I don't think it's going to be just that for long. Please, Akko, at least hold on for a little longer! We just have to make it back to the city! " – Diana replied, her voice cracking from the realization that Akko possibly wouldn't make it.

"I…I'm so tired… **It's so cold** _…_ I feel so weak…" – Those were the last words that Akko uttered before she passed out in Diana's arms, making the blonde gasp in painful realization.

Despite her sheer emotional exhaustion, Diana still had enough energy to fire off at least one last spell. She had sincerely hoped that someone, anyone else was in the vicinity. The rift resulting from an archdemon entering the human world had to have been sensed by at least someone…

" _If anyone can see this light, then I beg thee to come to my aid…Someone_ _…Anyone_ _…Help me. "_ – As Diana chanted the spell, the last few words clearly not belonging within it, she lifted her right hand upwards, and soon fired off what seemed to be a signal flare made out of holy energy. As the projectile exploded in a shower of sparks, Diana grabbed hold of Akko with both her hands, and pressed the brunette's body closer to herself.

Diana couldn't believe she lost two innocent lives in one fight. A half-human who merely got caught up in the crossfire, followed by her childhood friend mere moments afterwards.

**What good was she as a Warden of the Human Order if she couldn't even save anyone?!**

The tidal wave of pain, misery, and sadness was too much for Diana. She couldn't help but weep into the shoulder of the girl she held in her arms, silently hoping that her last call wasn't in vain.

**_She never felt more helpless in her entire life than she did in this single moment._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... Hopefully this wasn't too edgy or melodramatic or whatever. I feel like I've gone a bit over the top here and made the whole thing much harder to take seriously... Yep.


	6. Respite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko and Sucy are safely back to the city, as more details are revealed about Akko's recently unleashed potential, Sucy's fate, and the possible reason why the demons of the Abyss were after Sucy in the first place.

Akko's whole body was aching. She felt like she had just woken up after having several hundreds of volts ran through her body. Mercifully enough, she woke up not on the snowed-over cold ground, but in the relative comfort of an infirmary bed. Those were far from comfortable, but at the very least it was much better than waking up to find that you've frozen off a limb.

Opening her eyes, feeling too exhausted to get up, the brunette looked around for a bit. All of her limbs seemed intact, so there weren't any phantom pains present in her full-body ache. There weren't any visible signs of injury, either. Quite the contrary, the most that Akko felt was the aforementioned pain, which slowly subsided by now, and an overwhelming feeling of… Well, now that she thought on it, it wasn't exactly exhaustion – she was out cold for what she figured must have been a while now. It was more like as if she slept for an entire day and didn't feel rested at all afterwards.

"Still, I am rather surprised that you looked past the other girl's… Demonic nature and brought her here. While even a half-demon's healing factor should be enough for one to recover from such injuries faster than an average human being, it's still better that she stays in relative comfort – half-demon or not, she won't recover instantly." – An all-too-familiar voice rang not too far away.

Mistress Chariot. Although the middle-aged lady did not like the title of "Mistress" the tiniest bit – considering most of her disciples were still technically underaged, it was justified that she felt awkward about such a title, and preferred that they simply referred to her as either by her name, or as simply Miss Du Nord. The founder of the Human Order, a former Angel Sentinel – she was one of the few pure-blooded humans to have ever ended up in their ranks. That is, she wasn't the only one, that was for certain… But she much preferred not to ever think about her former human comrade, for she was certain that the other woman held some animosity towards her even now. Especially after a certain incident.

"It wasn't my idea, Miss Du Nord. It was Akko over here that wanted to save her. And… I guess we should have told you earlier about our previous visits to that derelict village. " – Diana replied guiltily.

"Of course. I've always seen that Akko… Has some qualities that allow her to look past certain people's… Natures. It was only natural that she would want to help someone in time of need, demon or human. For she has what equal parts humans and angels often lack – kindness towards others in a time of need, and trust that allows her to look past one's nature." – Chariot replied, her tone suggesting that she wasn't mad at neither Diana nor Akko.

"Diana… Chariot…" – Akko uttered, her ache seemingly subsiding. The duo immediately rushed over to Akko to check on her.

"I see you're finally awake, Akko." – Chariot remarked, smiling as she was glad to know that she didn't lose one of her accomplices.

"Is… Is Sucy alright? Please, tell me she's alright…" – The brunette uttered, her exhaustion still getting the better of her.

"She's in another bed just off to the side of this one. Suffice to say, she-" – Chariot didn't get to finish as Akko turned to look at Sucy, and groaned out at her state.

The half-demoness was lying flat on the infirmary bed, her chest and arms completely bandaged up, and several blood stains going through the bandages which revealed that it was all for the right reasons.

"Now, the wounds, those she can recover from easily, but the broken ribs… Well, even for a pure-blooded demon it would take a week or two. For Sucy over here… Three weeks or an entire month." – The red-haired woman dejectedly remarked as Akko looked over at the injured girl.

"And what about Akko? Is she going to be alright?" – Diana asked, a strong note of concern in her voice.

"Miss Kagari here had it easy – the most she seems to be dealing with is exhaustion from the sheer amounts of holy energy she used up." – Miss Du Nord explained, just as Akko struggled to get up, and gestured the brunette to stay down. – "That being said, you still need your fair share of rest, Akko. You've certainly overexerted yourself greatly, but I assure you that it won't take you long to recover."

"I… Alright. I'm just glad that Sucy is in relative safety." – Akko remarked, smiling, although that smile immediately turned to a frown as she turned aside to look over at the half-demoness. She seemed to be unconscious, and Akko was still worried about her current condition. – "Still, I wish Diana and I arrived sooner. Then maybe we could have prevented those injuries from happening to her in the first place."

"You did the most you could do, Akko. She couldn't have asked for anything more." – Diana reassured the brunette. Her hand was mere inches from Akko's when…

"Uuugh… Wow, for once I'm not waking up on a cold, hard floor, or right in the snow." – Sucy deadpanned as she woke up, and struggled to get up… Only to wince in pain as she fell right back down.

"Sucy! You're alive!" – Akko shouted, springing up from her bed… Only to fall back down as well, feeling dizzy from getting up so suddenly.

"I guess I was spared a bone-crushing hug. Anyway…" – The mauve-haired girl looked around for a bit, clearly unfamiliar with her surroundings. – "Where in the Abyss are we?"

"The Human Order's headquarters in Blytonbury, in the infirmary wing." – Diana stated.

"Really now? How come I didn't end up here in pieces then, Prissy?" – Sucy asked back, skeptical of her predicament.

"Let's just say some convincing was necessary." – Another voice rang from somewhere within the infirmary, the person speaking placing too much emphasis on the "o" sounds as she spoke.

"As well as some lies. " – One more person chimed in, her voice having a slight German accent and sounding incredibly subdued, as if she was constantly trying to keep her voice down.

"Ah, yes. While Akko had saved your life, Sucy, Diana certainly wouldn't be able to carry two bodies back to the city. She was very lucky that Jasminka and Constanze happened to be just nearby, going on another daily patrol." – Chariot explained as a chubby pink-haired girl and a rather diminutive navy-haired one came into view.

"Had it not been for us, you two would have probably had to recover from hypothermia as well as your injuries." – Jasminka remarked as she approached the infirmary beds, while Constanze ran off to her usual spot. – "And there would certainly be one occupied infirmary bed more."

"Thank you, Jas. And thanks to you too, Diana. Had it not been for any of you, who would have known how Sucy and I could have ended up..." – Akko replied, slowly sitting upright.

"All I did was fire off a signal flare and keep the remaining lesser demons at bay. You were the one who erased an archdemon from existence after all." – Diana remarked, reaching in to give Akko a friendly hug.

"Hold up… So… It was Akko who saved me? Wow… And here I thought I was a proud, independent half-demon." – The mauve-haired demoness joked, chuckling. As Diana let go of Akko, Sucy turned to face the brunette and remarked: "Thanks, I guess. Had it not been for you, I'd probably be dead and cold in that same derelict. How did you kill an archdemon, though?"

"Oh… Quite frankly, I… Barely remember anything. The last thing I remembered beforehand was how there was an intense surge of holy energy coursing through me, and then… Next thing I know, I woke up here." – Akko remarked, looking down.

"She pulled off a **Grand Cross** spell. Entirely on her own. And lived to tell about it." – Diana explained, eliciting quite a bit of shock from equal parts Sucy and Chariot.

"Diana… The Grand Cross spell is nothing to scoff at. And no amateur in holy magic can pull it off… Let alone Akko." – Chariot immediately turned to face the brunette and added: "No offense."

"It's alright, I know I'm one lousy cleric." – Akko replied, scratching the back of her head as she spoke.

"But if that's true… Then I suppose that lack of inner holy energy reserves is certainly out of question when it comes to Akko's difficulties with holy magic." – Seeing that Akko had brightened up a little from that bit of good news, Chariot elaborated: "You will, however, need to learn better control of your holy magic. After you recover, Akko, we'll begin your training immediately. Every weekday after school. That is, of course, if you're willing to master it."

"Of course I am! Who knows, maybe I'll eventually be as good as Diana if I keep on training!" – Akko excitedly shouted out.

"Well, that's going to take a while." – Diana remarked, chuckling at Akko's cheerfulness.

"I guess boring old me just stays in the background as usual. Good for me – I'd choke on the spot if people were to give me this much attention." – Sucy retorted as she tried to readjust her position so that her injuries wouldn't bother her as much.

"Guess we'd better leave you both be for now. Tell Jasminka or Constanze if you need anything." – Chariot remarked as she went on to leave the room, with Diana following soon after.

"Speaking of which… You wouldn't mind if I were to come over to take care of you every now and then, Suce? You know, after I recover and all…" – Akko asked, blushing.

"Suce? Already starting with the nicknames, huh? Well… You do have some people here to take care of the patients, so I don't feel that-" – Sucy didn't even get to finish, as Akko immediately pleaded: "Sucy, you don't understand! I just want to help you out the most I can! If I couldn't prevent you from getting so severely injured, then I could at least take care of you until you recover! You know already how much it would mean to me! "

"Ugh… Fine. You've gotten way too attached to a complete stranger, you know." – Sucy groaned out, rolling her eyes.

" **I merely want to help.** "

* * *

"So, Alastor, you're telling me that the half-breed just disappeared from the town after the confrontation?"

The throne room of Queen Lilithia's castle was as empty and dark as it usually was, lit up only by a chandelier of green abyssal flames, and several candles strewn across the walls as well. The queen herself – a relatively diminutive demoness whose wings took up most of her frame even when folded, whose skin was as gray as ash, whose demonic horns protruded quite far, and whose only form of clothing – not so much clothing as mere abyssal matter, a mix of ashes and abyssal energy, given the necessary form for the demoness' needs – covered what was necessary. It was an odd sight to watch a tall, horned Taurus-like demon kneeling before the girl, towering over her even when not standing up straight.

"Exactly, mistress. My brother Astaroth was erased from existence by the human girl that saved the halfling. The rest from there, however, is unknown. Any remaining lesser demons have either been killed off as well, or retreated back into the Abyss before they gotten caught up in the Grand Cross." – The bovine demon explained.

"Hmph. I suppose it serves Astaroth right for his arrogance. I clearly told him to stay and keep watch of the half-demoness, as we needed her alive and well. But of course, he always has to do things his own way. The nerve of that bigot…"

"How could my son be bested by mere human filth?!" – A roar bellowed through the room, making Lilithia casually turn around to look at the source of the noise.

The towering demon that looked like an odd mix of bovine and serpentine stood just behind the queen, serving as her personal bodyguard and now roaring in rage, the noise causing the throne room to shake. Both Alastor and Lilithia stayed calm, however, with the latter off-handedly moving the debris coming at her aside with a simple spell.

"Apollyon, please, stay quiet in the throne room. It appears that your older son inherited your bad temper, but clearly not your intelligence. Alastor, you may stand up now." – The bovine demon quietly complied to the demon mistress' words as he stood up, now looking about two times as tall as Lilithia was, rather than just a head taller. Not that either of them were anywhere near as tall as Apollyon, who was about as tall as mountain and just barely fit into the alcove behind Lilithia's throne, often having to use teleportation magic to get out of there whenever necessary.

"Still… How could one of the strongest archdemon commanders known to the Abyss have been bested by a mere human…" – Even when Apollyon attempted to keep his voice down, the room still shook slightly every now and again.

"Hush, Apollyon." – Even when trying to calm one of her ill-tempered subordinates down, Lilithia stayed as calm as she could. – "If the half-breed's new friend was able to pull off the one spell that even the archdemons, not unlike you or your sons, are powerless against… Then we know for certain she is no mere human." – Turning back to face the other demon present within the room, the demon queen continued: "Alastor, tell the lesser demons still remaining in the human world to get back into the Abyssal Plane at once. We know for certain that the half-breed will not bring us to Reyna's possible whereabouts. At least not directly. In the meantime…"

" **I have some new orders to relay to Lady Southern Cross.** "


	7. Irrationality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It turns out that someone amongst the Sentinels isn't what they seem like. Meanwhile, Sucy further questions just why would Akko try so hard to help.

"How did I oversleep all over again?!"

Despite all that's been happening recently, Akko attempted to keep her life in relative normalcy. As Chariot had predicted, the brunette recovered quite quickly, and was good to go in just a single day. And sure enough, it was unsurprising that, on the contrary, Sucy needed quite a bit of time to recover. Sure, the fractures from the resulting crush trauma were nothing major – despite the sheer pressure applied, Sucy got away with merely several cracks, instead of having any of her ribs outright broken right off, or ending up with some severe muscle damage from the crush trauma – to even a half-demon, but it was undeniable that she would still have to stay back in the infirmary for quite a bit until she would recover completely. At the very least, the half-demoness' pain tolerance prevented her from groaning out in pain whenever she took a breath, but Akko still couldn't help but worry about her quite often.

"Ugh, darn you, insomnia! It had to be right during the pre-exam week, too?!" – Akko rambled on as she ran through the streets with her schoolbag held in both her hands. She didn't get much sleep, barely had a bit at breakfast before she realized she was running late, and didn't even have any time to at least brush her hair properly, let alone take care of the usual morning routine. And even then, she still barely had any time to spare! How could she-

"Look out, Daryl!"

Akko immediately screamed at the sight of a dark blue car coming right at her, and stopping within mere inches away from the brunette, yet she still couldn't help but fall right down on the ground, dropping her bag and having all the textbooks spill right out.

"Oh, no, no, no! Of all times for this to happen, it had to be now! I barely even have any time to-" - As Akko looked back at the car, she saw that one of the side windows was lowered, and that the only passenger in the car was none other than Diana.

"Seems to me someone's running late again. I suppose we're in the same boat on the matter, however - I had to ask Aunt Daryl to drive me to school today instead of going there by foot. " – The blonde remarked as Akko took her time to get her textbooks back into her bag.

"Oh, hi Diana. Yeah, I ended up falling asleep a bit too late that night and barely got enough sleep to not end up falling over randomly. " – Akko replied as she loaded the books back where they belonged and checked to see if she didn't leave anything. As she heard the sound of another car window being lowered, she immediately added nervously: "Greetings, miss Daryl."

"Good morning, miss Kagari. I suppose that you are in quite the hurry, if your rather disheveled state and lack of attention to the road is of any indication." – The older woman at the driver's seat remarked dryly.

"Aunt, please. No need to be so harsh to my close friend." – Diana responded, her voice sounding almost embarrassed, before she turned over to look at Akko and continued, in normal tone: "Akko, I suppose you wouldn't mind taking a ride together with me for today, would you?"

"Sure! Anything to not end up late all over again, thanks. " – The brunette replied as she went into the car and sat next to Diana, throwing her bag in the blonde's hands. After a few more moments, Daryl drove onward, as she could put up with the shouts of impatient drivers behind her on the lane for only so long before her temper would get the better of her.

"So, looks like we've both had some serious insomnia." – Diana remarked as Akko dusted the snow off her coat.

"Yeah, tell me about it. It's been a few days since what happened back then already, but I always find myself lost in thought before going off to sleep. Not even the nice and pleasant kind of thought, too." – Akko added as she attempted to at least slightly straighten the complete and utter mess on her head.

Making sure that Daryl wouldn't hear them, Diana whispered: "You're still worried about Sucy, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I mean, she seems to be putting up with her injuries just fine, but seeing her struggle to get up and groan out in pain whenever she does is… It just plain hurts to look at." – The brunette confirmed, barely managing to keep her voice low enough.

"Don't worry about it so much." - Diana reassured her, then, raising her voice back to her usual volume, added: "Not to mention, we have other things to worry about aside from our work for the Order. Like the upcoming exams. "

"Oh… Sure, the exams. I just hope I'll be able to get a passing grade. Especially in Maths and Chemistry, I have way too much of a hard time with both of these. " – Akko added, her tone now back to her usual kind now that the subject she and Diana were discussing was a bit more casual and less discreet.

"A passing grade is not what one should be aiming for, Miss Kagari. If you're taking a test, try to make sure you can do everything in your power and get more than just a passing grade. After all, the "trying for a passing grade" approach won't help you out much when you go to college." – While Daryl was busy talking, she just barely avoided driving past the school, and drove back to park the car. – "We've arrived, by the way."

"Thanks, Aunt Daryl. Well, off we go, Akko. " – Diana remarked, and handed Akko her bag as they left the car.

* * *

"So, you're saying there was a barrier breach two days prior?"

The main hall of the Sentinels' home base was, for a lack of better wording, more reminiscent of a church hall than anything. Most of the visitors – be it Sentinels currently not on patrol through the city or some of the higher-ups amongst the ranks of the Sentinels – were either seated on the benches, stood at their usual positions or, in case of one particular Sentinel as well as their leader, Trisagion, stood opposite of each other near an altar-like desk. While normally Trisagion would call the person she wished to speak to straight to her office, this time she felt that this situation had to be talked out amongst her other subordinates as well.

Trisagion, leader of the Sentinels and as such the person who was, technically, in charge of both the city's "police" and it's local government, was by no means a bad person, no matter whom within the city you asked. That being said, however, the long-haired blonde was far from a soft type of person, and was particularly stern towards her subordinates in case of any failure. Of course, Archangels were never known for their softness, so it was only natural, yet she also certainly defied the stereotype of them being a lot more ill-tempered than their lesser brethren, as she never expressed anger – only disappointment, which, to many, hurt to be on the receiving end of worse than any angry outburst ever would.

"Affirmative, Mistress Trisagion. What's interesting is that the breach wasn't even forceful – the barrier was opened entirely voluntarily by our border Sentinels. It was the sudden spark of Abyssal energy in the process that was alarming." – The aforementioned Sentinel, a purple-haired woman in a rather odd getup – tons of unnecessary belts, a red cape, overall just looking rather out-of-place amongst the Sentinels and their white and gold garments. – replied.

"I see. You also told me that, from that moment onward, you were unable to pinpoint the source of the aforementioned energy." – Trisagion's voice always remained an odd mixture of calm and stern, even if she wasn't berating her subordinate at this very moment.

"Unfortunately, that seems to be the case. However, there is one oddity – not only did the "breach" actually leave an imprint, said imprint almost perfectly matches the same one that resulted from a particular fellow's summoning ritual several decades ago." – As to emphasize her point, the oddly dressed woman procured an odd white tablet from her bag, and, after a few taps, displayed a side-to-side comparison of two odd crimson symbols, the dates under them indicating that the left one, which seemed to have fewer details than the other and was slightly blurred, was apparently the more recent imprint.

Every single greater demon, no matter how pure-blooded, has a recognizable unique soul imprint that was passed down throughout the family line, with each subsequent generation having a slightly different imprint to the demon that started the dynasty in the first place. Of course, normally, a demon's imprint isn't something that you can just see – rather, it manifests as an Abyssal energy signature that occurs whenever said demon enters the human world or breaches any barriers that were, ironically, designed for the very purpose of protecting against them. Of course, there do exist quite a few spells that allow one to trace that signature and imprint an image based on it onto any surface, but the most advisable course of action would be to print it out on blessed parchment as to prevent the resulting physical imprint from thinning out the barrier between the Abyss and the Human World… Or, if you had the same technological approach as some modern Sentinels did, use a very specific spell that allowed one to turn the imprint into graphical data without any risks of further barrier breaches whatsoever.

"How utterly peculiar…" – Looking over the imprints in her subordinate's archives, the archangel squinted for a bit before she gave up, sighing, and remarked: "As for your current orders - I want you to send a group to investigate the location of the Great Breach. Of course, if you want to go by with your usual approach, check around the place on your own, I'm not stopping you. Try to find anything that might prove a connection between the demon that breached the barrier recently, and the unwillingly summoned lilim. Any objections, Meridies?"

"None whatsoever, Mistress." – The purple-haired woman replied, nodding. – "I do need to take care of some personal matters over at my apartment before the mission, if that wouldn't be too inconveniencing."

"Then you're off for now, Croix. I have other matters to attend to. " – And with that said, Trisagion headed on back to her office while Croix also didn't waste any time whatsoever in leaving the Sentinels' home base and headed back on to her not-exactly-humble-but-not-rich-either apartment.

Once there, it didn't take her long to open a rather odd communication channel in what seemed to be a glorified voice chat app on her tablet, said channel seemingly only accessible from that device only and not even being mundane in nature.

One of the perks to being knowledgeable in equal parts holy and abyssal magic was that one could easily mask any connections to the Abyssal Plane, not drawing any suspicion. And even attempts to communicate to demons on the "other side" were no exception.

"Ah, if it isn't Southern Cross herself. Have you found any information on the half-breed's current whereabouts?" – A somewhat raspy feminine voice spoke from the other end. The ability to freely communicate to Queen Lilithia herself whilst remaining out in the human world was something not even most of the greater demons had, let alone a pure-blooded human being. Yet here Croix was, having a conversation with the queen of demons herself not unlike those typical formal phone calls.

"She **is** in the city, I know that for certain, Your Majesty. Where exactly **within** the city, however… That's a different matter entirely, I'm afraid. I suppose that, until she attempts another breach, we will be unable to track her in any way whatsoever. " – Croix calmly explained.

"It was to be expected. The halfling hides well and fights fiercely when confronted. And if she chooses to hide someplace where no demon can reach… Well, as much as I hate to admit it, your suspicions are true, Southern Cross. So, what shall your next actions be, then?" – Lilithia's usual calmness persisted even now, as the demon queen rarely showed emotion, even despite her clear disappointment at the current situation at hand.

"I'm afraid I cannot disclose that without blowing my cover, Your Highness. Just remember that it might provide us with further information regarding Reyna's potential whereabouts, and maybe you won't need to keep this wild bat chase up. Even though I've yet to understand just why are you seeking that particular demon out so vehemently." – And with that said, Croix shut off the communication, marked down a point somewhere near the edge of the city border and, by extension, the barrier surrounding it, which was represented by a thick white outline around the city borders. The marked location was a long-abandoned small building.

* * *

Loneliness was nothing that Sucy couldn't get used to. That, however, did not mean that she had no reasons to look forward to Akko coming over and visiting her. First, she was probably the only person who could walk away without any burn marks on her hands after changing the demoness' bandages. Second, Akko still continued to bring the demoness some more proper food – considering that she had to resort to tasteless microwave dinners otherwise, it was more than welcome. Third, as much as Sucy refused to admit it, having some company other than the Order's other members currently on the infirmary watch really did make her feel a tad better.

"Huh. You've come later than usual, and- Whoa… Is it just me, or it's more than just your irises that are red?" – Sucy asked, squinting a bit as the slightly exhausted-looking Akko approached her.

"Sorry. I barely slept last night. I was just worried sick about you, and during the lessons, I was almost always at the edge of my seat, looking forward to checking up on you." – The brunette remarked as she placed her bag just next to the bedside drawer at Sucy's bed and went on to unpack the usual by this point homecooked ramen in a typical reusable plastic container, some bacon sandwiches, a tea-filled thermos, and a couple of teacups.

"You know, by this point, I'm way too used to you bringing me something to munch on." – Sucy remarked as Akko returned back from the break room, having set the ramen to reheat. – "Still, why do you still bother? I can take care of myself, I have access to some microwave meals – even if they often taste worse than those leftover rations – and I'm not exactly a tea person, to be honest."

"Sucy, I may not have the best memory, I may be a bit slow in the head, but I think I've told you this a few times already. The reason why I "bother" with this is that I'm just trying my best to help." – As Akko said that, she gave Sucy one of her typical cheerful smiles, making the other girl feel a little uneasy. Something within the half-demoness seemed to stir every time Akko smiled at her. She all but forgot about those odd feelings she had whenever the brunette was around, and there they were again, returning at full-force. – "Besides, with me having been unable to save you from getting particularly heavily injured… I feel like you're **my responsibility** by this point. It's like, I'm always getting that really nasty feeling of guilt whenever something bad happens to you, you know?"

"Never thought I'd ever make anyone feel anything but contempt towards me, and yet you prove me wrong. That's one weird winter I'm having, that's for sure. " – Sucy turned away slightly as she said that, not really wanting to have any further eye contact with Akko.

This awkward silence could have persisted some more if the typical "ding!" of the microwave at the kitchen not too far away from the infirmary didn't break the silent awkwardness in the room.

"Oh! I guess we've gotten a bit too talkative over here! I'll be right back!" – And with that said, Akko ran off.

Even as the brunette returned with the violette's meal, even while Sucy was busy eating, she was still lost in thought, and didn't dare speak up to Akko while the brunette was busy chattering away – going on about her school day, on how she ended up occasionally bumping into random students in the corridors due to being half-asleep most of the time, and most weird of all, on how much she anticipated the moment when she could get back home and then rush right off to the Order's headquarters just to meet up with Sucy.

Her whole life, Sucy thought that no one really cared about her, or ever would care about her. That she is entirely on her own, especially after her father got murdered and after her mother just disappeared somewhere. She always thought that if she got herself trapped in some derelict, ending up incapacitated, hungry, and powerless, then it was entirely her fault and she was the one who had to fix it.

And next thing she knows, some dense human girl shows up, helps heal her injuries, then proceeds to bring her food for several weeks before ending up saving her life after things went a bit too awry… And now this girl was once again bringing her food, changing her bandages, and overall just keeping her company. Even if there wasn't any real benefit from it to Akko whatsoever.

Just what was it that drove that human girl to be so…

**Irrationally helpful to her?**


	8. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Croix continues her searches for any connection between the summoning sixteen years ago and the recent barrier breach, Akko continues her training in holy magics and tries her best, and Sucy continues having the same nightmare every night, wondering if there is a meaning behind it after all.

"Alright, mistress Meridies. We shall not interfere with your work."

Near the outskirts of the city, in stark contrast to various two-three story tall buildings and some small houses, there stood one particular house that seemed the most out of place. No one lived there for a while now, and honestly, even if it weren't completely legally condemned by now, nobody would bother. Not only was the place completely rundown and almost uninhabitable now, but what seemed to deter most people the most was some sort of odd presence within the house. They didn't see or hear anything whenever they entered, it was just that there was some sort of… Inherent wrongness within the house. Something that gave any visitors that strange, primal-fear-based urge to turn tail and make a run for it out of the house while they still could.

The Sentinels knew the reason for that inherent wrongness all too well. After all, this was the small house where a particular loner first attempted to summon a demon and succeeded. Despite the demon being long out of the city by now, there was still a mark left from both the demon getting ripped out of the Abyssal Plane and the breach of the barrier surrounding Blytonbury that disallowed any demons to simply teleport in out of their home plane. Luckily, nowadays the breach is not nearly as strong as it used to be, so no demons would be able to enter the city freely on their terms.

"Guard any and all exits. Don't let anyone or anything exit nor enter. We may not know if the house is truly as derelict as it used to be." – Croix remarked, opening the door with one hand while keeping her weapon – an odd white and gold magnum-like handgun – in the other, just in case.

Taking a few steps in was more than enough for the door to just shut right behind the lavender-haired woman. Croix couldn't help but smirk at this – doors slamming shut randomly were a surefire sign that there was a constant influx of abyssal energy within the house.

Sure, no demons could conceivably pass through the now almost completely shrunken breach, but that didn't stop the abyssal energy from leaking into the area surrounding the rift anyway. Even the smallest remnants of said energy passing through the breaches, while unable to take on a corporeal form or to take control of any intelligent living beings nearby, are still strong enough to affect the environment. The abyssal energy acts neither on instincts nor any form of will. It's incredibly unpredictable, and it's just… There, doing whatever it feels like, it's actions only slightly affected by the emotions of those caught up within it's flow.

Of course, Croix, knowing a thing or two about protection from the negative effects of abyssal energy, was quick to fire off a cleansing spell – just in case – and a protective one, so that the abyssal energy would not affect neither her body nor soul in any way.

"Now if you wouldn't mind, I've got things to find here." – As Croix said that, she fired off a relatively easy light spell that created a small wisp of light that hovered around her, pointing an unfocused beam of light wherever the woman looked.

Honestly, the house looked just as awful inside as it was outside. The furniture was in varying states of degradation, there were cobwebs in every corner… The house may have only been completely abandoned a couple years ago, but it still looked like no one lived there for decades.

Croix couldn't help but shake her head as she thought back to the raid she tagged along on, those few years ago. All they found? A corpse covered in claw marks in one of the bedrooms, and a bunch of occult paraphernalia in the basement, complete with a chalk circle and some broken rune-covered handcuffs. Any residents other than the dead man? Were nowhere to be seen, even if the window looked like someone just jumped right through it when the raid group arrived. The potential escapee? Never found.

Croix was more than certain that they missed something during that raid. There had to be something else that would point at a connection between the most recent barrier breach and this unlucky summoning.

**Never in her whole life did she think that the key piece of evidence would be little more than a small paper slip.**

* * *

"Well, I suppose it's only fair we have a quick recap of the basic spells, just in case. First up is the holy flames spell. You remember how it goes through?"

"Yes, Miss Du Nord. Concentrate, aim, and swing right at the target with an open palm like you're cutting the air." – As Akko took a deep breath, she took another swing at the practice dummy in front of her, and unleashed a small white ember that dissipated as soon as it hit the dummy. Of course, such unsatisfying results were frustrating the brunette to no end.

How come she was able to accidentally pull off a spell that practically obliterates even archdemons, yet when she attempted to deliberately cast even the basic ones, she failed spectacularly and the end result was not even half-hearted even if she put her all into it?!

"Now, now, Akko. You seem to be making some progress still. Just remember that you have to concentrate." – Chariot remarked, reassuringly placing her hand on the dejected girl's shoulder. – "Try again, and remember – let your energy flow from your heart and over to the palm you're firing the spell off from. Be patient, wait until the feeling of heat in your hand is strong enough, and only then take a swing. Ready for another try?"

"I guess I am." – Akko replied unsurely, taking a deep breath yet again and trying to concentrate still.

It wasn't long until Akko felt a surge of holy energy, manifesting as a feeling of warmth starting in her heart and flowing over to her arm. Another deep breath…

"Hi-yah!" – And with that single swing, Akko immediately released a rather steady, if smallish wave of holy flames. Said wave dissipated as soon as it hit the dummy… Yet there were still white flames surrounding the brunette's hand. Taking a few more swings with the same result, Akko immediately jumped up and cheered… Firing an upward holy flame in the process, which, mercifully enough, didn't damage anything.

"Alright, I think you're doing quite well. Now to extinguish the flame, you just concentrate, calm down, and let your energy flow return back to normal."

Just like how it's much more difficult to learn how to land a plane than how to fly it, it was difficult for Akko to close off the energy flow. Try as she might, the flames still surrounded her hand. Sure, this wouldn't present any threat of her just wasting all her energy, or any possible damage to her surroundings, yet Akko was incredibly annoyed yet again.

"Go out already, you stupid flames!" – A few more angry swings, a few more flames fired off elsewhere, even knocking a few things down, which Chariot barely managed to catch in time. – "This is so frustrating! First I had trouble getting even a single measly ember out, and now I can't even extinguish those darn flames?!"

"Akko, just calm down. This is exactly what's preventing you from closing off the flow so that the energy does not get released externally." – As Akko groaned and lowered her hands, Chariot continued: "Just take a few deep breaths, and try to relax."

As Akko followed the red-haired woman's instructions, she slowly but steadily felt the heat in her right hand dissipating. The flames surrounding her palm disappeared, and her energy was soon flowing normally.

"Well, this sure is interesting. Whereas before the incident your holy energy flow appeared outright crippled, now it seems to be slowly but surely recovering, yet you still have trouble controlling your energy flow. Luckily, it appears that it's the lack of holy magic practice that's to blame for that part." – Chariot calmly explained as she and Akko went over to the break room.

"It's still frustrating as heck. How come the sole reason I'm unable to be even half decent at holy magic was just because there was something screwed-up about my holy energy flow thing?" – Akko groaned out as the redhead quietly went on to pour her some tea.

"At the very least, now it appears that it's slowly but steadily going back to a relatively normal state. I'm sure you'll be much more proficient at holy magic eventually, Akko. You just need time and patience. But we better call it a day now – you're already exhausting yourself way more than necessary." – As the woman said that, she quietly handed Akko her cup of tea. As the brunette took a few quiet sips, seeming a tad confused still, Chariot explained: "While the spell you practiced today wasn't particularly complex, it's undeniable that it still had it's toll on you, even if it's not exactly physical or magical exhaustion that you're dealing with, but mere frustration. I don't think that trying to keep training while heavily frustrated will do you any good, so we really better call it a day. "

"Yeah, miss Du Nord, I know." – The younger girl remarked dejectedly, taking a few more sips.

"We'll get right back to your training tomorrow, and I'm sure you'll perform even better than before. " – Seeing that Akko finished her tea and was just about to run off to the infirmary, Chariot quickly stopped her: "Now, I wouldn't disturb Sucy if I were you. She decided to take a quick nap for the time being, and waking her up wouldn't be any good for her."

"What's with her habit of taking naps at the weirdest of times? It was the same yesterday, too…" – Akko wondered aloud as she turned back.

"She is still recovering from her injuries after all. As much as I think she might appreciate your company, it's best that you leave her be and head on home. Don't worry, the medical personnel will make sure she's alright, and you'll be able to visit her again tomorrow." – The redhead reassured the younger girl.

"Aw… Okay then. I mean, I do have a few less lessons to attend to tomorrow, so I'll be able to check up on Sucy earlier if anything, so, eh… See you tomorrow then, Miss Chariot!" – And with that said, Akko went on to grab her backpack and leave the headquarters.

"As energetic as ever, ain't she." – Chariot thought aloud. – "Still, could it really be? Could that single accidental Grand Cross have unsealed her inherent holy magic potential? I just hope Akko won't get herself into any trouble as she keeps going… Ugh, I need to calm down. Now, I could swear I still had my flask in my pocket when we went back to the break room…"

* * *

It was middle of the night. Not a single light source was lit up anywhere within the Order's headquarters, save for the small room just near the infirmary, where the night-shift personnel stayed at, and thus, the remainder of the place had a very unwelcoming vibe. The chill coming through the corridors was nowhere near comforting, either.

Sucy constantly tossed and turned in her bed. Normally the type of person to just lie flat and sleep soundly, the half-demoness had a much less than restful sleep ever since she arrived to the city. Sucy's sleep was near-constantly plagued by one single nightmare.

This nightmare kept occurring to Sucy for a while now. It was the same one every night – she woke up in the middle of some strange pitch-black void, then would notice a small, hastily-scribbled note not too far away. The note had everything but the words "I'm Sorry" washed out, and just mere moments after Sucy looked at the tiny paper slip, a pair of hands would come from right behind her, muffling her and beginning to drag her somewhere she couldn't fathom where.

Waking up from this nightmare yet again, Sucy realized one simple truth – she was seeing this nightmare every night over and over **for a reason**.

**And said reason was somewhere within the city.**


	9. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Croix still persists in her attempts at deciphering a key piece of evidence and recounts an important memory as she does so. In the meantime, Sucy seems to have almost completely recovered, yet her further fate is left to be decided by the Order.

Croix Meridies' apartments weren't exactly luxurious, but one couldn't say that her place was the poor type, either. Something right in-between, if you will. Currently sitting at the study room, the lavender-haired Sentinel tried her darndest to restore the smudged writings on the note she had recovered. Try as she might, however, the paper slip seemed to outright resist the spells commonly used to restore otherwise smudged pages of text back to readable state. Only two words were decipherable out of the otherwise smudged text, and they revealed no information that would be necessary to Croix whatsoever.

Yet she could swear that, with each spell fired off at the tiny paper slip, the writings on the note momentarily cleared up, yet didn't stay that way long enough for Croix to comprehend it. That couldn't have been written with ordinary ink, that was for certain – the burns on Croix's right hand from holding that damn note proved it all too well.

"Aren't you a stubborn little paper slip." – The lavender-haired woman remarked almost snidely, looking down at the note on the desk before her. – "Perhaps that particular demon didn't want anyone else reading the note. How quaint. Yet I can clearly see their protection dwindling. I'm already too close to back out."

After a cursory glance at the clock, however, Croix noticed that it was already getting a tad too late for her schedule – 11 PM already. As much as the Sentinel wanted to stay up more and try to decipher the note, she figured that even if she did make the paper slip display what she wanted, she'd probably be too sleepy to comprehend it.

"Then again, I suppose I can afford to finish it off tomorrow." – With that said, Croix sighed and threw the paper slip back into the blessed steel container near the desk and went on to take care of her usual pre-bed routine. Still, the sentinel's thoughts lingered on what she had seen within the house way back during the raid a couple years ago, memories of it all having been refreshed by her attempts to re-investigate the place several hours earlier.

Whilst the house appeared like your typical abandoned house at first glance, all that was needed was a cursory glance over the basement and the upstairs bedroom to know what was wrong. The still-glowing circle of symbols right in the middle of the basement, broken – no, outright **molten** \- chains, which were presumably used to keep the summoned demon restrained… And then the blood stains in the bedroom and the broken-through window in said room.

The Sentinels presumed the story was simple like that – some down-on-his luck fellow summoned a demon, toyed around with it for a while, and got sent off to the Abyss for his troubles while the city ended up with a demon on the loose. Plain and simple. The only reason they didn't close the case was the fact that the demon did not escape the city yet – they were presumed to have remained within Blytonbury for reasons unknown, if the occasional abyssal background emissions – likely the demon idly channeling abyssal energy – were anything to go by. It seemed like a simple forever unsolved mystery that was forgotten quite quickly – and yet the moment that breach happened a few days before now, Croix knew that it had to be related to that specific case.

After all, why else would the imprint from the recent breach and the same one from the summoning match almost perfectly, with 94.8% correlation rate? She realized rather quickly that the imprint belonged to an offspring of the summoned lilim, but preferred to withhold that information. Just in case her higher-ups begin asking too much questions and digging into her connections…

Speaking of said connections, it was Queen Lilithia telling Croix about the escaped half-demoness that completely cleared up all her doubts on the matter and fully confirmed her theory.

And she was certainly not one to miss on any opportunities that this case might present… But first, she needed to decipher the one piece of evidence that **is** presentable enough to not draw suspicion to herself.

And Reyna certainly did a good job at making it as undecipherable as possible, huh…

* * *

The next day…

"I must say, you do seem to be recovering surprisingly quickly. Perhaps Mistress Chariot did underestimate you after all."

Sucy was already staying within the Order's headquarters' infirmary for several days by now. It appears that Chariot might have misjudged her estimated recovery time, as it wasn't long before Sucy stopped having any pains in her chest and back, as well as the results of later examinations showing that her bones and internal organs seemed to have almost fully healed.

"Some good news in quite a while by now." – Sucy deadpanned as she shoved another spoonful of miso soup into her mouth.

"Yep! Guess you'll be back to perfect health in no time! " – Akko added, smiling. Mere moments afterwards, however, the infirmary door opened, and Diana walked in, narrowing her eyes at both girls.

"Oh, hi, Diana! I just brought Sucy some miso soup for lunch, so I thought I might accompany her for the time being. Considering I've already had lunch myself, I figured I'd just-" – Before Akko had a chance to go on a long tangent about just why she decided to accompany Sucy for no other reason than for the sake of keeping her company, Diana interrupted her: "Why is she still here?"

Sucy nearly spit another spoonful of miso soup out as she heard the blonde say that. Swallowing hard, the demoness retorted: "What is that all about, Prissy?"

"What do you mean "Why is she still here"? Sucy still needs to recover after all. We can't just-"

"Akko, as much as I disagree with having to throw Sucy out, we can't let her stay within Blytonbury for long, either. The Sentinels have surely gotten wind of a demon's presence within the city by now." – Diana calmly explained.

"Hey, just because the Sentinels are semi-aware that there's a demon within the city doesn't mean they'll come right into the headquarters, busting down doors and windows, holy guns blazing!" – Akko mimicked firing two akimbo pistols upwards as she said that last part.

Sucy attempted to speak up: "In all honesty, I don't really care where-"

"Still, that doesn't change the fact that the Sentinels might just begin scouring through the city sooner or later, and it would be bad for everyone involved if they were to raid the Order's headquarters and have Sucy killed, right?" – The blonde tried her darndest to reason with Akko, neither of them really hearing what Sucy had to say prior.

"No one's to say I can't just-"

Akko was quick to interrupt Sucy with her own bout of wishful thinking: "Hey, if we were able to get Sucy past the border Sentinels easily, no one's to say we can't let her stay here, in relative safety! Who knows, she might even be able to blend in as a proper citizen later on, right?"

Diana sighed yet again. As friendly as she was with the ditzy brunette, even she had trouble dealing with the girl's sheer stubbornness sometimes, especially if she refused to listen to voice of reason. Unless said voice was Chariot, that is.

And speak of the lady herself…

"What's the commotion all about, everyone?" – The redhead asked in her usual pleasant tone as she entered the infirmary.

"Diana insists that Sucy has to leave, and I said we can't just throw her right out again." – Akko explained to the best of her abilities.

"And so far, we've yet to come to any agreement, despite one of the options being obviously more reasonable." – The blonde added, sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

"Neither of you even bothered to hear **me** out, too." – Sucy deadpanned as well.

"Right, about that…" – Chariot scratched the back of her head as the uncomfortable topic got brought up. – "I'm afraid we might have a certain problem."

"Huh?" – All three girls exclaimed at once.

"How do I best explain it…" – The older woman took a deep breath to calm down for a bit, then continued: "You see, while maybe getting Sucy **into** the city could have been relatively easy, no one's to say we can get her **out** without drawing unwanted attention to ourselves."

"How come?" – Akko asked in a somewhat confused tone.

As for Diana, after she took a few moments to comprehend Chariot's line of thought, she was quick to explain: "I suppose it's because scouring the entire city in search for a single person, who's only known characteristic is that she is suspected to be a demon, might take several months at best and would end up a dead-end case at worst. Whereas if Sucy were to attempt to cross the border again, they'd immediately catch her red-handed, and we would be branded criminals for trying to get a demon out of the city instead of turning them in to the authorities."

"That's precisely the main reason, Diana." – Chariot reaffirmed, nodding. – "The most we can do is let Sucy stay in within the city, and keep her hidden away from the Sentinels."

"Hey, anyone care to hear **my** opinion on the whole thing now?!" – Sucy retorted, getting everyone else's attention. Seeing that everyone was focused on her, the demoness cleared her throat and explained: "Look, I'm not going to just live my days out between the four stone walls. I'm a free half-demon, and I need some fresh air every now and again. Besides, both the citizens and the Sentinels are complete and utter **morons**! Hide my horns under a hood, and suddenly I seem like a perfectly normal person to the rest of them! Zero damns given about my hair, my fangs, or even my eyes! "

"It also helps that most of the rank and file Sentinels – the border and the city ones alike – seem to lack the ability to detect a person's aura, as to determine whether the person they are looking at is really a human, an angel, or a demon." – Chariot elaborated. – "That aside, the point still stands – Sucy cannot leave the city easily."

"I don't even **want to** , to be completely honest. Problem is, I may be a tad too much of a freeloader." – As Sucy said that, she put her long empty soup bowl away and explained: "I mean, previously I had the whole excuse with my broken ribcage, but after that's out, what then? I can't just sit on my behind all day long and do nothing, waiting for **something** to happen after all. "

As Sucy said that, the conversation trailed off to awkward silence, with no one else being able to say anything on the matter. After a few more moments, Chariot sighed and remarked: "Very well, then. I'll have to think on assigning you on some duty that might both fit your natural affinity for combat magic and wouldn't end up endangering you any further."

"Oh! Oh! She could help me with my holy magic training!" – Akko almost immediately suggested, prompting a confused glare from Sucy, with Diana asking: "And how exactly she would be able to help you out in that regard?"

"Well, I may end up learning how to use the spells properly, but what about learning how to use them in a real combat situation? And that's where Sucy would come in as my sparring partner!" – The brunette explained, grinning as she finished. The awkward silence returned for a few more moments before Sucy deadpanned: "You'd probably get yourself killed if you were to go against a lilim in direct combat."

"I'll certainly be there to make sure that you don't injure her in any way, then. Because if you end up injuring Akko particularly badly, you might just have to deal with a substantially stronger opponent than her, so keep that in mind. " – Diana responded coldly, then, seeing Akko's somewhat surprised look, blushed and remarked: "I mean, I don't want to have to spend an entire day patching Akko up and treating her burns if you do."

"Well, I suppose it's settled, then. After you completely recover, Sucy, you will assist Akko in her training." – Chariot remarked, and, after a few moments, added: "As for now, I'll be at my office if any of you need anything."

Both Akko and Diana nodded, and as soon as the red-headed woman left the infirmary, Diana remarked: "As much as this particular decision doesn't satisfy me, I presume we've had no choice on the matter, and this was the lesser of two evils."

"Look, blondie, if you don't want me around, just say so." – Sucy remarked, crossing her arms. – "You were perfectly willing to shoot my brains out back when Akko bumped into me the first time, and you seem to desire to do so just as much still. Oh, and can it with the fancy language already!"

"I'll prefer to ignore your assumptions on the matter, demon. I've got other things to attend to, so I suppose I better leave you be for now." – As Diana said that, she almost immediately went the same direction Chariot went, presumably to discuss the matter further, although the look on her face suggested that she merely wanted to get out of the uncomfortable conversation.

"Jeez, what's her problem?" – The violette retorted, lying back down on her bed.

"I don't know. You do have a point, though – she's been acting like that ever since I met you and began visiting you in that derelict every now and again. And I don't even know why." – Akko wondered aloud.

"Something's telling me that Little Miss Prissy is just jealous." – Sucy remarked, smirking. Somehow, the half-lilim was beginning to get used to seeing Diana lose her composure whenever she mentioned spending more time with Akko.

"By the way, I thought you said that your mother was a succubus, not a lilim?" – The brunette asked confusedly, prompting a groan from Sucy.

"A lilim is a subspecies of succubus. Let's just say that, whereas most succubi are all-female and appear more human than most demons, the lilims, while they are also all-female, and yet appear even more human-like, with their sole demonic features being their horns, somewhat sharp fangs, and maybe oddly-colored eyes…" – For a brief moment, Sucy smirked, baring her shark-like fangs. – "Well, let's just say lilims have a horrible secret that succubi don't. But you've been kind to me lately, so you're very unlikely to end up on the receiving end of a lilim's true form."

"Gee, that's reassuring…" – Akko remarked, seeming a little scared by Sucy's odd display. – "By the way, I'd be staying here for the night."

"What for?" – Sucy asked, raising her sole visible eyebrow in confusion.

"Well, you did tell me you've been suffering from night terrors, so I figured that… Maybe… I, uh, can watch over you for the night, and make sure you don't get yourself hurt thrashing about in your sleep?" – Akko couldn't help but blush as she said that. – "That sounds crazy, I bet."

"It does. First, it's nightmares, not night terrors. Second, I don't " **thrash about** "in my sleep. Third, why are you so bloody concerned about me anyway?" – The violette replied in her usual deadpan manner. It seems that she didn't really get the intended response from Akko, as the brunette chuckled and looked back over at Sucy before speaking up again.

"Because you're still **my responsibility** , you know. I did save your life after all. " – The brunettte remarked, giving out one of her usual smiles and prompting Sucy to blush in turn, the same question that bothered her for a while now resurfacing in the half-lilim's mind yet again.

**Just** _**why** _ **was this girl so attached to her?!**


	10. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Croix finally unravels the secrets of the main piece of evidence to her claims, and Sucy recovers some of her repressed memories that remind her of her half-lilim nature.

Croix was yet closer to unraveling the secrets of the tiny note that she found. With each successful spell fired off at the note, even if the text returned back to being unintelligible mere moments after seemingly getting decrypted – sadly, not nearly long enough for Croix to capture what was actually written on the note – it seemed to hold out for longer and longer. Even if the time that the text stayed decipherable only increased by mere nanoseconds, she could still barely notice some degree of change.

"It's surprising how a single enchanted slip of paper can give someone so much trouble. Yet I can see the spell is obviously weakening. I suppose it won't be long until I get the necessary evidence. This little note shall be my ticket to accomplishing my plans yet further after all."

Concentrating for a few more moments, and firing off another spell, Croix was mildly satisfied when she saw that, after the holy flames cleared up, the writing on the note was turned intelligible yet again… And stayed that way for far more than a couple seconds.

Chuckling to herself, the lavender-haired woman took out her usual tech and took a quick photo of the writings before turning her attention back over to the slip proper. Perhaps it was about time for her to see just what it was all about…

* * *

A mauve-haired young girl stirred up from her sleep, shivering from the cold still. The bedroom was as uncomfortable as it could get, with cold drafts blowing from nearly all sides. The bed was falling apart and constantly creaking at any wrong movements, while the bare minimum of a mattress was in downright awful condition, torn at places with some springs sticking out.

As the half-demon stood up from her bed, she was rather surprised to find a small paper slip on her bedside table. One that seemingly had something written on it in some odd, smudged red ink. Of course, knowing the world around herself too well, the girl could very much assume that it probably wasn't actual ink.

As she looked over at the slip of paper and read it's contents, her sole visible eye widened to no tomorrow, her iris shrinking down to the size of a dot due to her sheer shock.

"Dear Sucy, if you are reading this, chances are that I'm long gone – either I'm not here in the city anymore, or I'm dead by now.

Please, hold no ill will against me, as I swear, if I had the strength to not only escape, but to also take you along, then I would do so without any hesitation.

Alas, my newfound strength only seems to be enough to break the chains confining me and binding me to that horrible man's will.

Yet you aren't bound by anything. You are free to do as you will. But first, I think we both agree that there is one thing in particular that needs to be done.

It's about time you finish what I didn't have the strength to do.

I'm sorry that I had to leave you like this… Daughter."

As Sucy finished reading the note, a pair of all-too-familiar hands grabbed hold of her – one by her waist, and one over her mouth. She honestly didn't expect her father to sneak up on her like this at the worst of times. And it seems that he was in on the "bad news", too.

"Well now, it seems that the little filth got a parting gift from her coward of a mother. How sad that even your own mother doesn't want you after all. But if it's any consolation, little demon, I've got a much better gift for you. One that we both shall certainly enjoy…"

As Sucy felt the other hand slip somewhere it shouldn't, she growled and bit on the one hand muffling her, forcing her father to scream and let go of her for a moment.

"Why, you! How dare you just bite your father and master like this?!" – The man shouted out as Sucy got some distance between him and herself, turning around to face the unlucky summoner. Sucy's only response to that was another growl as she gazed up at her abuser.

"I command you to drop to your knees and apologize for what you did **right now!** You are **my** daughter, you are bound to me by the same spell that keeps your mother in control, and you **will** do as I say!" – The middle-aged man with unkempt black hair shouted back.

It wasn't until he saw something in Sucy's expression that made him freeze in fear. Not just the usual kind of rage, but the same kind of look a predator gets as they corner their prey. Even if Sucy was only partially a lilim, she still inherited the one survival mechanism they're infamous for.

And as Sucy let out a downright inhuman screech after completing her transformation, her father realized that he was going to be on the receiving end of her claws and fangs.

"No… Back off, back away, you hideous monster!" – The man shouted as he fell down onto the floor and tried to crawl back away from the now much more dangerous Sucy. As he looked over the claws brandished by the half-breed that he formerly thought was entirely at his mercy, he shouted: "I didn't know what I was dealing with! Please, don't hurt me!"

Another ungodly screech. Flashes of red, screams of pain ending on an agonizing gurgle. That was all Sucy could remember from that moment onward up until some semblance of clarity hit her and her transformation reverted. The first things she saw after coming back to her senses were the blood on her hands and the endless claw marks upon her father's dead body, making her quickly realize that she took the life of a human being just now.

So that's what her mother meant in that letter. Not that Sucy had any time to think on it, as she soon heard the sounds of the front door being busted down. In a few moments, not thinking through her actions, she was quick to sprout the wings that most lilims usually kept perfectly hidden, and flew right out of the bedroom window. She didn't even notice how exactly she managed to go any further from there, considering she was bound to just crash right into the barrier surrounding the city, but it appears that something allowed her to safely slip on through.

Alas, the breach left Sucy severely weakened, even if she had to put minimal effort into it due to the barrier surrounding Blytonbury being at it's weakest near the house, as this is where the abyssal energy continued pouring out and piling up. Trying to fly at least some distance away from the city, it wasn't long until Sucy crashed down into the snow, and didn't even attempt to get up, passing out there and then in the howling snowstorm…

* * *

Sucy didn't jolt awake. She didn't sit upright in a near-instant, breathing rapidly, yet she still opened her eyes widely, mere moments after awakening. Trying to catch her breath as she slowly got up, the mauve-haired demon checked her surroundings. She was still in the odd infirmary, on a small bed, with a bedside drawer and a chair pulled up just next to it, with a particular brunette leaning back on it and seemingly being sound asleep.

Sighing, Sucy stood up from the bed slowly. Any and all aches she had were long bygone now. Yet there was one thing she had to make sure of.

As Sucy left the room, Akko slightly stirred from her sleep and looked around.

"Huh… Wha…Sucy?" – Akko groggily remarked, yet the girl she was supposed to watch over was already out of hearing range. After letting her eyes adjust to the darkness and realizing that Sucy snuck out of bed, Akko ran right after her, yet at least attempted not to cause too much noise.

The building felt downright desolate at night. The only people here other than Sucy and Akko here were just a couple of random night-shift guards, who were sleeping their asses off like no tomorrow.

Poking around for a bit, Sucy soon managed to find the elevator, with Akko watching over her just nearby. As Sucy entered the elevator and the doors closed behind her, Akko could briefly see that Sucy's destination was the last floor – more specifically, the roof.

"Why would she need to go all the way out there? She… She's not going to… Oh dear, no!" – As Akko theorized just what Sucy would need up on the roof, she immediately rushed over to the stairs. She had to get there one way or another now, just to make sure Sucy wouldn't pull anything dangerous!

* * *

As Sucy stood at the edge of the roof, she looked over what little she could see of the city – considering that the building wasn't exactly tall, she couldn't really see all that much. It was the middle of the night, all lights were out, and not even a single car drove nearby. Considering everyone was already asleep, it came off as no surprise to Sucy.

Right now, however, the silence was the least of her concerns. The mauve-haired demoness had one last thing to check through as she undid the bandages on her chest. Even despite the fact that she went outside with just the bare minimum of clothing, she didn't seem to mind the winter cold the tiniest bit, the most she felt bing a light stinging. Right now, all that mattered to her was one thing.

Akko rushed out just in time to see Sucy drop the bandages right off the building, and saw that the demoness was standing right at the edge. With a horrified wide-eyed look, Akko shouted: "Sucy, don't do it!"

The violette uttered a mere "Hmph" in response. Falling down upon all fours, Sucy screamed out in pain from the all-too-familiar feeling of her whole skeleton restructuring to accommodate the temporary transformation that had kicked in by her command.

What Akko saw just now left her equal parts terrified and amazed.

Just now, Sucy sprouted a pair of rather sizable membranous bat-like wings, their total wingspan practically being bigger than her entire body. The brunette could only look at the end result of the demoness' transformation in complete awe, not having anything to say on the matter as she stood there wide-eyed with her mouth agape. The demoness didn't need to turn back to respond to Akko's reaction on the matter as she stood up on her feet again.

_**"I guess I have a lot of things to explain now."** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, maybe this particular chapter was a tad on the rushed side. Croix's side of things is way too short IMO, while there is some really oddball pacing on Sucy's side of the chapter. The next chapter is going to go all out with the revelations regarding Sucy's nature and the nature of her bond with Akko, so stay tuned on that one.


	11. Distrust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sucy gives Akko a warning about herself that the brunette seemingly refuses to heed. In the meantime, Croix sets her plan in motion.

As Sucy turned back around to face Akko, she approached the brunette, wings still outstretched. The brunette could only marvel at the horrifying beauty before her as the half-lilim slowly but steadily approached her.

"Sucy… You…" – Akko couldn't even manage a single coherent word at the moment. As the other girl looked over at Sucy, she could swear that her usually simply pale skin had… Something like an ash-gray tone to it? Even her horns now seemed to be at least a tiny bit longer, too…

"Never seen me with my wings out before, huh? I guess… You could call this a partial glimpse of the real me." – As the partially transformed demoness said that, she couldn't help but chuckle and remark: "Close your mouth. There are no flies, but getting a throat ache because of too much cold air is the last thing you'd want to remember this moment by. Do you know **why** did I allow myself to give you a tiny glimpse of my real self?"

Since the brunette was still left in stunned awe, Sucy took a deep breath and went on to explain: "This is only a halfway point of my transformation, Akko. And trust me, it took me all my willpower to halt it right there. Consider this… A warning, if you will. That if you persist on following me… You might just end up on the receiving end of razor-sharp claws, and equally sharp fangs, to say nothing of the abyssal magic I have at my disposal." – Sucy replied in a somber tone, looking down upon the ground she stood on. – "It's dangerous for you to be anywhere near me… After all, I killed at least one human being in my life, even if it was out of self-defense. **My father, to be specific.** "

Akko couldn't help but back off a bit as soon as she heard that. Sure, Sucy never really specified what happened to her family, but that…

"Worst thing is, I remembered it just this night. I… Had a particularly odd nightmare. Although… It was more of a repressed memory. Something that I just didn't want to remember… Yet my mind allowed it to resurface still. My mad father tried to do something particularly horrible to me, and… He went too far is all I can say. Yet so did I, exceeding the acceptable norms of self-defense, and ending his life, no matter how much I restrained myself. "

Soon enough, an awkward silence started yet again, persisting through the air until Sucy looked back at Akko again, and lifted her normally eye-obscuring bangs aside. What Akko saw underneath them was equal parts fascinating and disturbing – Sucy's other, normally obscured eye, was but a pitch-black void, with a single red ember burning in the depths of whatever darkness that was. Moreover, some odd smoke seemed to emanate from the semi-empty eye socket, as Sucy kept her stare focused on Akko. The brunette could swear that the tiny little blazing ember was focused on her no matter where she looked.

"You know, I'm very surprised that you've let yourself become so attached to someone who could become a mindless killing machine after one bad tick-off. So naturally, I have just one question that plagues me still to this day." – As Sucy said that, she straightened herself back up, assuming a posture different from her usual slouch. When the mauve-haired half-lilim wasn't slouching, she was at least a head taller than Akko, not to mention that her wings certainly added quite a bit of extra height on her, so it appeared as if she loomed over the other girl. Looking her in the eyes, she asked a simple question that held many, many other ones behind it:

"Why?"

Akko didn't seem to quite understand the real intent behind the question, however, judging by the awkward silence starting up yet again, so Sucy reiterated: "Why are you always so irrationally helpful to me? Why did you bother saving my life, even though you've got nothing out of it? Why are you so attached to a down on her luck demon like me? Why do you still insist on me staying within the city despite knowing full well that it will just endanger you more than needed to?"

As Akko took a deep breath, she regained her composure and replied: "Sucy, I know that may sound naïve, but I honestly believe that there is good in every person – angel, human, or even demon. And however childish that may sound, I honestly think that helping a person down on their luck is just the right thing to do. Somehow, I just… Sensed that you wouldn't hurt me if I did so. I knew that, demon or not, you're still a good person at heart, even though this was literally the first time we met. And after I got to know you better, I still think the same, and I know that I wasn't wrong in my judgement. I mean, I'm fairly certain we would be surprisingly good friends, even despite our, heh, differing natures. "

Sucy didn't know what to say on the matter, so she loomed over Akko for a few more moments like this before going back into her usual posture, retracting her wings and covering her eye back up as she turned to face away from Akko, letting her body readjust to her usual, less battle-capable form. Chuckling to herself, the half-demoness remarked: "Your world view never ceases to amaze me. You're a grown-up lady, and yet you still see the world in blacks and whites. Except you're very clearly colorblind to boot. I guess ignorance really is a bliss. Although I can safely say, you're probably the single most lovable idiot I've had for a friend. Especially considering I didn't really meet any lovable idiots in my life all that much. "

"And you are an incredibly grumpy cynic. And I've met thousands of those types, but I know for sure there's one thing that differs you from them all – beneath all that sarcasm and cynicism of yours, you're just a big ol' softie! " – Akko replied, grinning and giving Sucy a light shoulder nudge, prompting a chuckle from the half-lilim. – "Now come on, let's get back into the headquarters. You're probably freezing here, standing in nothing but your undies."

"Says the person who wears only that and a light shirt. I guess idiots just don't feel any cold. " – Sucy playfully retorted as they went over to take the elevator back to where the Order's headquarters were.

**That night sure was quite a doozy.**

* * *

"So, you're saying that the recent breach was caused by the return of the offspring of the exact demoness summoned back then, almost two decades ago? That the young half-lilim breached the barrier on her own, the same way she managed to escape two years ago?"

The afternoon was as quiet as ever. Most of the Sentinels were off elsewhere in the city, and a select few of them were just preparing for their morning patrol, standing outside the Sentinels' Headquarters. Right now, the only ones currently there were Croix and Trisagion, with the former relaying all the information she had to the latter.

"Exactly. And I firmly believe that she returned for a reason. After all, it is very unlikely that our unlucky lilim might've escaped the city at any point, let alone at the time of the _childe_ 's conception. I'm assuming that the half-lilim is on a search for her long lost mother. Perhaps she might be able to bring us to her whereabouts?" – Croix suggested, all the while showing off the research results she had.

"You have a rather…Peculiar theory, lady Meridies…" – Trisagion remarked as she looked over the results shown on the screen of Croix's tablet. After a few moments of analyzing the information she was given, she reluctantly agreed: "That being said, if we find and capture her, we might just be able to get two demons out of the city safely in one go. Tell the Sentinels to scour through the city for any half-demons. Interrogate them quietly, otherwise we might just make even more troubling for us all. We do not need any attention to be drawn to our operations. Dismissed."

As Croix left the building, she couldn't help but chuckle to herself as she accessed the communicator function on her tech. Before connecting, however, she hastily shut the tablet off for now and remarked: "Oh, what am I doing. My overconfidence is gonna be the death of me someday, I swear. Better relay the orders from a more secure location."

And it wasn't until after she was at her apartments that she instead opted to access the Sentinels' city-wide communication channel via her PC, and went from there.

"Mistress Meridies! We've heard everything about the incident and are awaiting Mistress' Trisagion's orders!" – One of the Sentinel squad leaders, an ordinary blonde angel, remarked as he answered the call.

"To all Angel Sentinels within the city. Find and interrogate all half-breeds within the city, and try to find out the whereabouts of the half-demon that breached the barrier a few days prior through them. Should they refuse to cooperate, you are free to detain them and force the interrogation from there!" – The lavender-haired Sentinel didn't have a single shred of doubt as she spoke these words out. She knew that the lesser Sentinels trusted her too much – she was the right-hand woman of Trisagion after all! – and with their endless animosity towards any half-angels that didn't work amongst the Sentinels' ranks, there was no questioning sent her way, only the occasional cheers. And to top it all off, Trisagion herself hardly had the time to personally see to it that the lesser Sentinels followed her orders strictly, so Croix really was going to get away with all this.

"How hilarious, Trisagion…" – Croix remarked to herself as soon as she closed off the communication app on her PC and went back to scrounging through the files containing all the information she gathered so far. – "Your subordinates' bigotry against half-angels and your unwillingness to participate in your own affairs shall be your own undoing. It won't be long before the near-endless human-angel dissent overtakes the city. And in Chaos, an opportunity shall rise for me… An opportunity for me to set things right."

**The plan was set into motion. And there was no stopping it.**


	12. Aftershock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a couple days after Sucy's recovery, both Sucy and Akko stumble upon a half-angel that was chased throughout the city for no apparent reason. Said half-angel seems to know something about Akko that Sucy doesn't...

"You know, even if you look quite great in a hoodie, I still don't get why you would have to wear a hood all the time whenever we're outside, you know?"

It was a quiet Sunday afternoon. Even though Akko was originally intending to head over to the Human Order's quarters to get back to her training with Sucy, the brunette's mom asked her to take a detour to buy some necessary groceries. Currently, the duo was heading back over to Akko's place from the store, with Akko doing all the carrying while Sucy just wandered close by. Once again, Sucy was wearing her trademark black coat that seemed more than a few sizes too big for her, so it practically shuffled along the snow as she kept on going.

"I thought it was pretty obvious – to hide my horns, as we are basically surrounded by equal parts demonophobic humans and angel guardians instructed to attack any and all demons on sight." – Sucy calmly responded.

"Sure, but why do so even when we're going through places where there is no one but us? Come on now, that hood is just plain overkill!" – Akko insisted as she looked over at Sucy, eliciting only a "Not getting that hood off even in a million years" response.

"Ugh, fine… If only because this hood actually looks good on you. Gives you an odd air of mystery of sorts. " – As the other girl said that, she lightly nudged Sucy in the shoulder, prompting only a light grunt in reply.

"Yeah, by the way, I'd much rather wait outside than have to meet up with your mom in person." – Sucy remarked, looking off to the side.

"Why so? She's not so bad, and she is pretty acceptant of me introducing my new friends to her. I'm sure she'll like you!" – Another nudge, this time resulting in a groan.

"Does she know that I'm a demon, though?" – The half-demoness remarked, making Akko stop dead in her tracks and utter a quiet "Oh" as she did. – "Thought so. Pretty sure that the last thing she would need is finding out that you're… Close friends with a demon."

"Okay, guess you can wait outside while I pass the groceries over to mom, then." – The brunette shrugged, not even noticing the pause in Sucy's speech. – "Anyway, thanks for tagging along regardless. I'm glad to have some company, and you needed a breath of fresh air anyway."

"Not when said fresh air is freezing in my lungs." – Sucy deadpanned, prompting a snicker from Akko. Just when she was about to quip something else in response…

What seemed to be a random angel just whizzed overhead above the two girls, making Akko stumble and barely manage to prevent her bag of groceries from spilling it's contents right onto the snow.

"Whoa… Was that one of the Angel Sentinels that zoomed right past or-" – Sucy didn't have a chance to finish the sentence, as both she and Akko were knocked off their feet by another angel, with Akko barely managing to turn around and land on her back as to make sure that her groceries wouldn't get crushed under her weight or spill right out.

"Yikes!" – The brunette yelped as she struggled to get up. Looking over at the ongoing chase, she managed to just briefly spot what was going on.

An angel sentinel, clad in the usual white and gold armor, was chasing after some random half-angel girl. As briefly as Akko could see her, she managed to notice that said girl had short ginger hair and wore practically oversized glasses, which made Akko question how they didn't fly right off the odd half-angel girl's eyes, given the speeds she was moving at.

"I guess even angels tend to get speeding violations after all." – Sucy deadpanned as Akko helped her get up.

"Suce, this is no time for jokes! Why would an Angel Sentinel chase this girl for no apparent reason?!" – She asked, looking over at the chase still transpiring nearby before it ended up in the ginger girl steering right into a random alley.

"Well, here's hoping she throws that moron off quickly." – The half-demoness quipped as she saw that the unlikely Sentinel also steered right into said alleyway. After a few moments of relative quiet, Sucy deadpanned in her usual matter-of-fact tone: "It's a dead end, isn't it."

" **Miss Lotte Yanson, you are in no position to resist arrest! Surrender now, and I will guarantee that I won't have to resort to violence! Raise both your hands and don't pull any tricks on me!** "– The angel sentinel shouted out in a raspy and deep tone.

A couple moments of silence, with Akko practically strung on anticipation and Sucy not giving any less damns even if she tried… And then a sudden explosion that shook the entirety of the street.

The passersby were quick to notice what just happened, with questions of "What happened?", "What's going on?", "What was that just now?!" and others of the sort being asked left and right. That being said, despite the clear interest shown in the event that just transpired, no one even dared to get any closer to the dead end where it happened. Even more so after the Sentinel, now with a few missing feathers, face covered in ash, and flying like a pigeon with a clipped wing, emerged from said alley and spoke into their wrist-mounted communicator: "Mistress Meridies, the capture was a total failure. I'm currently speaking from a near-comatose state. The suspect turned out to be… A tad harder to catch than suspected."

A disappointed, but quiet voice was heard on the other end: "Very well then. I see that even if the subject's abilities would help our cause, they would be too unwilling to cooperate for us to get anything out of it. Dismissed for today, Draphiel. I don't think you need any more charred feathers after all of this."

As the Angel Sentinel flew off, Akko was quick to hand the grocery store bag to Sucy and rush right into the direction of the dead-end alley. Looking over at what she was just handed, the demoness shrugged and figured that she certainly wasn't going anywhere with that thing, so her only option was to follow Akko.

As the duo arrived into the alleyway, they were quick to see the angel girl from before, now having retracted her wings, sitting in the snow, with the ashes coating the street walls being quite the indicator of what happened.

Regaining her consciousness, the ginger girl was quick to notice the two confused girls staring at her as she opened her eyes.

"I guess it is true that hybrids get visited by both an angel and a demon when their time comes, huh…" – The girl remarked, clearly still dazed from the explosion.

"Methinks that the explosion might have given her a concussion, so-" – The realization soon hit Sucy like a freight train. – "Wait, what?"

Getting out of her daze for real this time, the ginger girl took her glasses off, looking at them and frowning as she noticed one of the lenses was missing. Sighing, she looked down and noticed that the missing lens ended up in the snow, so after a quick shirt wipe and reinsertion, she put the glasses back on and remarked: "Sorry for attracting too much attention. I suppose that prior explosion must've caused enough of a stir to get your attention. "

"That's putting it mildly." – Sucy deadpanned, although she was still unsettled by the half-angel's words prior.

"Oh! How rude of me to not introduce myself!" – Clearing her throat, the ginger girl added: "The name's Lotte Yanson. But you can kinda call me just Lotte for convenience."

"Nice to meet ya, Lotte! I'm Akko, and this is Sucy here!" – Akko replied in her usual cheerful way, shaking Lotte's hand like no tomorrow, with the ginger angel barely managing to wriggle her hand out of the other girl's grasp.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, even if it's under such unusual circumstances." – As the ginger half-angel said that, she grinned and scratched the back of her head shyly. – "In case you were wondering about why that Sentinel was chasing me… Well, let's just say the Sentinels seem to have some troubles with my family, and leave it at that."

"What kind of troubles? And by the way…" – Akko's tone indicated slight nervousness as she said the next sentence: "What was it you said about being visited by both an angel and a demon?"

"Well, let's just say that I can see things that others can't. Specifically, others' auras. I see that you-" – She turned to face Sucy – "-are making quite an effort to stay undercover, so I guess you should be thankful that there are only a few families around this town the members of which have the same or similar abilities. And none of them amongst the Sentinels' ranks, too. "

"Is that in any way related to why that particular Sentinel was hunting you down?" – The half-demoness asked, a little suspicious.

Lotte nodded sadly, and added: "Recently, a new directive was enforced amongst the Sentinels. They seem to be on the lookout for a particular **half-demon** girl, and they're interrogating every single half-angel in the city, as well as anyone suspected to be involved with demons in any way."

Hearing these news did nothing to ease Akko's tension, as she yelped out: "Wait, what?!"

"Huh. Took them long enough to even start searching for me in the first place." – Sucy deadpanned, seemingly indifferent to the fact that a city's worth of Sentinels was currently on the lookout for her.

"So, if I were you, I'd really do my best to stay hidden and not get into any trouble, Sucy." – Lotte remarked. – "After all, we all know how it is with angels and demons."

"Except that right now I am standing in front of a half-angel and, so far, I'm relatively intact." – The demoness added dryly.

As much as Lotte would want to correct Sucy on a detail that only the ginger herself seemed to fathom, she decided to give the necessary details at a later time, and instead changed the subject: "Anyway, I best be going now. Don't want to leave my folks worried even further than necessary."

"Wait!" – Akko shouted the moment Lotte attempted to spread her wings and fly off: "You can't just try to make it back through the city while almost all of the Sentinels in this district are on the lookout for you! I know of a better solution."

"A good point equals an incoming crazy idea from Akko. " – Sucy quipped to no one in particular.

"The Human Order's headquarters are not too far away. You follow us there, hide out for the time being, we tell your folks that you had to hide out somewhere safe for a while, they come pick you up at a more convenient time, and in the meantime you may just help us out a fair bit."

"Oh, I don't know… Are you certain that your fellow members of the Order won't react to having me show up in the headquarters all of a sudden? Granted, I didn't have a chance to meet anyone from the Human Order personally until now, but…" – Not that Lotte had much of a chance to finish, as she was quickly dragged off by Akko, with Sucy sighing and lagging behind the duo quietly, hoping not to attract **too** much attention to herself.

**After all, being around a loud loon like Akko was bound to attract some semblance of attention to her anyway.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. Here's hoping this one isn't too much of a mess and that the resulting foreshadowing in this chapter isn't a goddamn neon billboard.


	13. Bonds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of things are revealed. Some fail to elicite a reaction from Sucy... Some let her find out that there really is more to her and Akko than it might seem.

"So you're saying that they started interrogating practically all of the half-angels inhabiting the city?"

Getting Lotte to the headquarters wasn't nearly as problematic as it was expected, and right now the trio was busy explaining the ginger angel's predicament to Chariot – or, rather, Lotte and Akko did the explaining, while Sucy was busy quietly sitting off to the side and just drinking hot water straight from a kettle, much to Diana's chagrin as she entered the room.

"They are trying to find demon collaborators of some sort. Someone who could potentially be trying to hide a particular demon they're after. And, well, considering my family's differences with the Sentinels, it was little wonder that they tried to go after me as well. My folks got off easy, and are left alone for now, but me… Not so much." – Lotte calmly explained, while Akko was busy sitting there and tapping her foot impatiently.

"I see. I suppose Lady Trisagion really is losing it after all…" – Chariot remarked, letting out a resigned sigh as she dug through her desk drawers for something before procuring a folder with documents regarding the Angel Sentinels and scouring through something only she understood.

"Miss Du Nord, I presume it's quite obvious what demon they're after. It's no surprise that, if they found that we're providing shelter to Lotte, they might try and see if we are sheltering… Other unusual individuals. Or more specifically, the exact individual they're after. " – Diana glared over at Sucy as she said that, and the demoness certainly returned the gesture, practically deadpan dropping the kettle back on the heater, the resulting clanging startling Akko.

"Hey Prissy, can it with your passive-aggressiveness already. I think I already told you that half the city is a bunch of morons, and so long as the rest of ya keep your mouths shut and I don't do anything stupid, like exposing my horns in public, we should be fine. " - With that said, the demoness lifted the kettle back up and, with a peek into it and a disappointed sigh, decided to leave the damn thing be. – "If you don't want me around, just tell me so."

Diana didn't bother with an answer, instead just getting up from her seat and leaving the room, shutting the door behind herself.

"Anyway…" – Chariot tried to get the conversation back on track. – "Lotte, I'd probably have to ask your parents to come pick you up. Given how you were practically chased throughout the entire city, I think it's only for the best. For the time being, however, you can stay here. I'll let your folks know when it's safe to come pick you up."

"Thanks, Miss Du Nord. I quite appreciate your help." – The ginger quietly responded while Chariot herself decided to leave the office for the time being, as she had an apprentice to calm down, and a newcomer to greet.

"So…" – Now it was Sucy's turn to defuse the awkward silence in the room as soon as the red-headed woman left the room. – "What was the thing about you saying how you were visited by both an angel and a demon when you woke up? Are you getting at the fact that you might be feeling something mushy towards my friend here?"

Lotte just shook her head and threw her hands up defensively, sputtering: "No way! I wouldn't ever try to **break a bond like yours** , and even if I did, I would be unable to!"

"Huh?" – For once, Akko made some other noises besides her impatient grunting, foot-tapping, and startled yelping.

"Whoa there… Start with the angel part, please. I feel like Akko's got something to tell me now."

"Ugh, fine, I guess there is no point dwelling on it… Sucy, I'm actually a **half-angel** , not a pure-blooded human." – Akko remarked, and practically locked eyes with Sucy, trying to discern her reaction.

…No anger, no shock, no fear, no nothing. Sucy was still giving her the same deadpan stare.

"Huh. And here I thought all half-angels were allergic to demons' mere presence, given that their bodies can't really resist background abyssal energy as well as their pure brethren." – The demoness couldn't help but smirk. The only problem she had with it was that she just didn't manage to see through the whole thing sooner – after all, Akko being able to pull off a Grand Cross and survive was already suspicious enough as it is. – "Or maybe your angel half is just strong enough to not make my blood burn right through your skin?"

"I suppose you have a rather limited knowledge on angels. After all, **demon blood leaves unhealable burns on an angel's skin.** " – That remark from Lotte left Akko a little uneasy.

"But I'm perfectly fine! I don't feel any sudden pains or anything of the sort, and my hand doesn't have even the tiniest of burn marks!" – To prove her point, the brunette extended her left hand outward, and Lotte took a quick look at it. After the examination, the ginger turned to Sucy and asked: "Say, you wouldn't mind prickling your finger just slightly enough to draw blood? I need to get something checked real quick."

"I guess Akko's not the only one to be the type to touch hot plates just to be sure, huh." – Sucy remarked as she bit down on her index finger and ran it right across the back of Akko's hand. Sure enough, as the demoness' blood made contact with the brunette's skin, it sizzled out into smoke, while Akko didn't feel anything other than the feeling of Sucy's hand on her own.

"Well… This is exactly what I was getting at with the bond. You can't cause each other harm for a particular reason. Your auras… Your very souls… They are **tethered to one another.** "– The ginger calmly explained as Sucy withdrew her hand from Akko's.

Cue the mutual, almost in unison "Huh?!" from the other girls.

"Haven't you noticed anything? Anything like your inherent magic potential becoming any stronger?" – Lotte asked, trying to get Sucy and Akko to follow her trail of thought.

"Well, I did somehow manage to pull off a full-on Grand Cross, and not just survive, but also retain my magic potential…"

"And I honestly thought I'd be recovering from my crush injuries for much longer, too…"

"That's it. The bond between yours souls causes your inherent magic energy reservoirs to resonate with one another, and the end result is that your potential in your respective types of magic only grows yet stronger as the bond persists." – The ginger angel explained, eliciting a quiet, confused "Huh…" from Akko as a response, while Sucy just stared off to the side in her usual deadpan manner.

"So basically, we're like soulmates or something?" – Before Akko could get the answer to her question, Sucy lightly ran her finger across her own right hand… And made Akko feel a strange tingle going throughout that exact limb.

"Wa-wa-wait! How in Abyss did you do that?" – Akko shouted, pointing at the demoness.

"Just testing your theory. But that doesn't make even a smidgen of sense – by that logic, Akko should've collapsed from pain when I was getting crushed by some damned archdemon." – The mauve-haired girl pointed out, crossing her arms.

"That's because not all the feelings translate directly. Your aura connection works… Rather peculiarly, I must say. While it is not without it's benefits, such as the resulting energy resonance strengthening your respective magic powers - which is how you-" – Lotte pointed at Akko. – "-were able to pull off a Grand Cross safely, without risking your life or magic potential, and you-" – And now she pointed at Sucy. – "-were able to recover from your injuries far earlier than estimated - there are also other factors to take into account. For example, one of you gets hurt - the other feels distress. On the bright side, I guess that explains why you were able to sense that Sucy was in danger back then, Akko. Your connection was already strong enough by that point. Only question is how exactly the link between your souls came to be in the first place."

"No bleeding clue. I don't remember trying to link to Akko's soul to drain her of her energy or anything like that."

"And I don't remember trying to channel my energy into Sucy's body either."

"Well, it might come off as a bit of a surprise to you two, but the link between you two was established at least **eight years ago.** Try and remember, Sucy – was there any… **Involuntary use of magic on your side, by any chance?"**

* * *

A young girl peeked out shyly from the window of her bedroom. Honestly, given just how dreary the house was, any glimpse of the outside was like a respite for her eyes.

However, the girl knew that peeking out for too long or being too careless while doing so was only going to get her into trouble. But honestly, it's not like kids don't try to rebel against adults' guidance all the time, do they?

That being said, given how the girl was told that her **horns** were something that no one needed to see, as it would attract too much attention to her, she tried her best to position herself as to keep them hidden under what little was left of the window curtains. So she did rebel, but not too much.

Then again… Was there really **anyone** within that particular area whose attention she could attract? The other houses around here were in a state just as awful – boarded-up, dilapidated, ready to fall apart at any darn moment. The snow was practically falling right into most buildings through holes in the roof, too. The whole street was as abandoned as it could get, and the girl honestly didn't know why her family chose such a nasty place to live in.

Soon enough, the horned girl heard some distant rapid small footsteps. The sounds of the snow crunching had ended up eliciting a deer-in-headlights response from the mauve-haired half-demon, as while a part of her didn't want to get herself seen by anyone… At the same time, she was curious. After all, no one really showed up around this place. She felt that she needed to see this through.

The person making those noises soon came into view. A human girl about her age, with brown short hair and red eyes, wearing a fairly standard red coat and a pair of typical winter shoes.

Despite herself, instead of ducking back for cover, the mauve-haired girl kept on watching. Something about the girl intrigued her, made her want to see the whole thing through.

Funny. Despite the fact that the girl just wandered off into some random scary-looking district, all alone, she didn't seem to mind, as she just continued happily running in the snow, sometimes picking up whole handfuls of it and throwing it upwards, giggling as she did.

The horned girl couldn't help but want to sneak another peek at that peculiar human. She just leaned a tad closer to the window, almost to the point of her face touching against the glass, and-

"Hey! I didn't expect to see you there! Who are you?"

Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea!

Just as Sucy pulled what was left of the curtains over the window and ducked behind the wall for cover, the most she could hear from the outside was the brunette futilely calling out for her before another, more mature voice called out a name she didn't quite remember, and then the other girl stopped calling out for her, but not before shouting "Okay, see you later!"

Unbeknownst to the horned girl, a tiny aura thread was strewn between her and the brunette since the moment she laid eyes on her. A tiny thread that was her as of yet immature Lilim bond with the girl. A tiny thread that the other girl unconsciously transformed from a parasitic link into a mutually-beneficial bond.

**A tiny thread that forever tied their fates together from that moment onward.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good lorde Yharim, I sincerely hope that flashback bit wasn't too darn cheesy. And yeah, admittedly, I've ended up drawing inspiration from the Arceus-forsaken DarliFra all over again. Well, shiz. Here's hoping that I don't end up tainting the fic too badly in the future.


	14. Cornered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotte provides some intel on a particular person hiding out from the Angel Sentinels who might just have info on the Sentinels' plans. Unfortunately, the trip through the city to find them goes... Rougher than expected.

"Still, I don't understand why neither of us remembers a thing from back then."

As Sucy and Akko made their way downstairs from the building wherein the Order's offices were stationed, they were nigh-constantly talking it out about the most recent revelation dropped upon them. Needless to say, both girls were rather surprised to find out that they not only actually met before, way back in their childhood, but also had an odd soul bond between them established since then.

"Well, I can understand why **you** wouldn't remember anything, but I don't think I have any actual excuse." – Sucy remarked as she exited into the first floor corridor. – "Then again, given that the memories of my childhood years are a tad foggy, it's unsurprising that I would forget peeking out at some random girl out of curiosity and then diving back in out of fear of getting caught."

"Anyway, you have any idea when are Lotte's folks supposed to come pick her up? I don't really want to have mom worry about me if I end up getting back home too late, you know." – Akko remarked, looking over at her phone – it was nearing evening already, and given how early the sun set in winter, having to wade through the dark cold streets was not something the half-angel looked forward to.

"She did call them a couple moments ago, so they should drive over here at any moment. I guess you won't have to stay in the headquarters for the night." – As Sucy led Akko outside the building, she added: "Speaking of which, she gave us some intel on a certain rogue half-angel who has recently gone into hiding. A former member of the Sentinels. Molly McIntyre, I think. They said she has some info on why the actual Abyss the Sentinels basically turning the whole city upside down just to find a single demon. Problem is, she's hiding out in one of the streets in the rough part of town. Better not drag too much attention to ourselves. "

"Guess I've got work to do all over again. As for you-" – Seeing that the half-demoness already pulled her hood over her horns, Akko sighed and replied: "Okay, maybe you can tag along. Wandering through the city all alone now that it's so darn unsafe might not be the best option for me anyway, and you're probably tired of sitting within the same four walls of the Order's infirmary."

As the two girls wandered through the streets, soon coming to what could be best summed up as the aforementioned rough part of town, their thoughts still drifted back over to trying to remember what happened back then. Try as Akko might, she hardly remembered much of her childhood, though given the fact that most normal people hardly remember their childhoods all that well when they're 16 or so, this wasn't much of a surprise to her. She didn't feel like there were any blanks in her memories, or like there were memories that were just barely within her reach… She just felt like she was grasping at something she forgot ages ago. Something that she at first thought was completely insignificant, but only recently turned out to be important like no tomorrow.

As for Sucy, her excuse was a tad more mundane – given that most of her childhood was complete monotony, seeing nothing but the view outside her family house's windows and the interior of said house, with maybe the occasional moments of wandering out of the house to get some fresh air, it was unsurprising that something like this would get lost in all that routine.

Yet even she had a feeling that it didn't stop at the meeting alone. That there really was more that she couldn't remember…

"Young ladies, if you don't mind, we need to ask you a couple questions." – A deep voice seemingly coming from behind both girls remarked, startling Akko and leading Sucy to slowly turn around, making sure her hood wouldn't drop right off.

 **Archangel Sentinels.** Those certainly weren't the people that Sucy or Akko needed to stumble upon at the moment, that was for certain. Especially given that it was particularly rare for the Archangels, usually busy commanding squads of their Angel subordinates, to directly get involved in any such business. What differentiated Archangel Sentinels aside from their rank was also the wider degree of access to means of detaining and possibly even killing off any potential targets – compared to their sword-and-gun-wielding brethren, the Archangels instead resorted to usage of nothing but their own holy magic potential, with their weapon of choice being a Holy Amplificator – a gauntlet specifically designed as a conduit for holy spells as to lessen the strain on the user's internal magic reserves.

"Uh… I'm sorry, but I need to head home, and my friend here should also be getting back, so…"

"Young lady, this shouldn't take as long as you think it should. There is just a city-wide interrogation going on, and a certain one of my subordinates felt like you have some necessary information on the person we're looking for." – The other of the two archangels interrupted, his voice being a bit more nasally and his tempo of speech being far faster than that of his comrade.

"Do you happen to have any information on the person known as **Reyna Manbavaran?** "

As much as Sucy didn't show it on the outside, on the inside she was more than a little shaken up from hearing those words.

**Did she hear that surname right?!**

"No, not really." – This wasn't really a lie on Akko's part – she didn't know much about Sucy's mother after all.

"Well then, have you heard the news about Missus Manbavaran's **daughter** having currently returned to the city, apparently seeking her out?" – The more imposing of the two Sentinels asked.

Huh. Guess they really are that lacking in intel.

"That's it, we're getting out of here." – Sucy remarked, taking Akko's hand and attempting to lead her off… Only to find Akko being dragged in quite the opposite direction by the stronger of the two archangels.

"Resisting Sentinel interrogation, as well as assisting resistance to it, is a punishable offense, young lady. We just need to ask your friend here a couple questions, and I assure you, if she is innocent, we'll let her go shortly. So let her go, and don't disrupt our work." – The fast-talker explained.

"I swear, I don't know any darn thing regarding either of the demons you're going after! Why do you have to be so bloody stubborn?!" – Akko shouted, trying to wriggle out of the Archangel's grasp.

Unexpectedly to Sucy, she felt a familiar feeling of rage welling up within her. Kinda not unlike what happened back then, moments before…

Without any restraint, Sucy immediately fired off an abyssal flame bolt at the Sentinel's hand, making him let go of Akko from sheer shock… And in the process, Sucy's hood dropped back, revealing her horns.

"There she is!" – The more talkative Sentinel remarked, not wasting any time and quickly firing off a shackling spell at Sucy. The mauve-haired demoness barely managed to dive out of the way to avoid getting ensnared, with the spell hitting the snow and leaving nothing but a mark. As Sucy looked back around, however, she noticed that the more imposing of the two Sentinels seemed to have recovered, and now had Akko shackled, the brunette's hands positioned behind her back.

"Not so fast, Abyss-spawn." – The more imposing Sentinel remarked, showing that the ethereal chains in his hand actually connected to Akko's shackles. – "You make any sudden moves, and I'll break the girl's hands. Put your hands up, and let us safely deliver you back to the headquarters. "

"We assure you that, after you help us track down your mother, Reyna Manbavaran, we will let you out of the city safely. As for the traitor, she will likely serve a prison sentence as a demon collaborator. Such are the laws of the city. "

The words of the other Sentinel made Sucy freeze on the spot.

No… No, they wouldn't dare separate them like this again!

Unconsciously, Sucy bared her fangs once more, scowling at both Sentinels.

As much as she didn't want to unleash her more brutal side, it seemed that she had to go the extra mile.

For Akko's sake.

The demoness covered her face with her hands, keeling over as she felt the familiar pain from her body reconfiguring itself to accommodate her incoming transformation. Her wings once again burst right out of her back, starting out as mere bones before abyssal matter coated over them to take proper form, her skin took on an ash-gray tone, and the claws on her hands elongated so they were at least the length of her entire palm each. As Sucy moved her hands off her face, the Sentinels saw that the demoness' previously normal eye was now completely red, practically glowing, and it seemed that she gained a second row of shark-like fangs, her mouth now twisted into what seemed like a constant feral scowl.

"By the Nine, it's a bloody Lilim we're dealing with here! Asiel, we need to call for backup, pronto! " – The less professional of the two Archangels remarked, backing away.

"Don't freak out just yet, Usiel. It's just one feral Lilim against two trained Archangel Sentinels, we can handle her easily enough. Backup won't be necessary. " – Asiel remarked as he began charging up a holy bolt. – "I guess if you aren't going with us voluntarily, we're taking you by force."

Everyone looking at Sucy at this moment could swear that her scowl has briefly shifted into a wicked grin.

A sudden flash of gray. A few stray holy bolts fired off… And nothing. Every single one of them just dissipated upon hitting nearby walls. As Asiel turned around to face his comrade, he was rather mortified to find Sucy ripping him to shreds with her claws, before putting her hands together, conjuring a large ball of abyssal flame, and slamming it right down upon what little was left of Usiel, leaving him as little more than a burnt spot on the ground surrounded by molten snow.

For the few moments he had before Sucy shifted his attention to him, Asiel wondered if this was what his predecessors had to deal back then, during the Great Angel-Demon War.

Another flash. Asiel couldn't even react as the chain currently controlling Akko's shackles disappeared as soon as he lost concentration, but that was the least of his concerns.

"Let go of me, you demon filth! I-" – Those were Asiel's last words before Sucy decapitated him.

As she stood up and admired her "handiwork", the transformed demoness' eyes soon met Akko's.

The expression on the half-angel's face was that of pure fear. She honestly didn't know how to react to the events that just transpired.

Suddenly, a whole rush of past memories flooded Sucy's mind. Amongst them… Were those same red eyes, **eight years ago,** looking at her not with fear, but with curiosity.

And then it was back to the present. With Akko frozen in fear, sitting on the snow and slowly backing away.

As Sucy looked over at her blood-stained claws, she realized just what she had done just now.

She just killed two people in front of Akko. In the most violent way possible, too.

"You're a monster!"

"You are little more than a beast! An abomination!"

"Filthy Abyss spawn!"

As those words flooded the half-demoness' mind, spoken in her own voice, she covered her face once more before letting out an ungodly anguished screech, and soon flying away at inhuman speeds, trying to get as far away from Akko as possible.

She just didn't want to accidentally hurt her now that this happened.

"Sucy! Wait! Don't go!" – Akko shouted out, seemingly having recovered by the time Sucy flew off.

"Suuucyyy!" – As Akko shouted that out, she soon felt a familiar surge of holy energy. This time, the holy energy seemed to concentrate at her chest… Then at her shoulder blades…

Next thing Akko knew, a pair of wings seemingly made out of light had transpired behind her back. Quite frankly, the brunette was rather amazed by this turn of events, but she figured she'd gawk at her own transformation later – right now, she had a more urgent matter to take care of.

As she flew upwards and took a look around, it wasn't long before she managed to track Sucy down, who was currently flying through the city at downright inhuman speeds, being visible to others as little more than an ash grey blur. As Akko flew after Sucy, she could swear that the streets the demoness was heading through were… Strangely familiar…

* * *

"Hey! I'm here again!"

Huh? That voice… It sounded strangely familiar.

Before the horned girl could comprehend what was going on and hotfoot it back to home, she was soon approached by the all-too-familiar little brunette with a bob cut.

"I am so glad to have got to see you in person! You know, you really had me wondering when you're going to get out of that crummy old house of yours!" – As the other girl took some extra time to look over the half-demoness, she gasped: "Whoa! Are those horns real?"

The mauve-haired girl immediately covered her horns up and looked away. She didn't even have time to be amused at the fact that the person she met up with for real only noticed her horns after getting a proper look at them.

"Hey, you don't have to be ashamed or anything! There's no one else around, so I'm sure it wouldn't hurt for me to have a look! I promise I won't tell anyone about you!"

Reluctantly, the horned girl sighed and quietly complied, staring into the ground and barely uttering a few words: "I'm a freak."

"No you're not! I think those horns look cute on you! Are you, like, some sort of demon? You don't look all that scary, though… Everyone I know told me that demons are those ugly creatures that kidnap children if they wander out of the town, but you don't look like the kidnapper type! And even if you were, it doesn't seem like you would be strong enough to carry me off somewhere!"

Gee, that other girl was such a chatterbox… But at the same time, the demoness somehow appreciated her company, so she merely giggled at the other girl's sense of humor. Seems like the tension was slightly alleviated prior.

"Sorry I didn't get to properly introduce myself. My name's Akko, very nice to finally make your acquaintance!" – The brunette remarked, shaking the other girl's hand like no tomorrow. – "And what's your name? Or should I just keep calling you the Horned Girl?" – Akko giggled at her own remark as she finished that sentence, grinning.

After a few quiet moments, looking off to the side and uttering nothing but incomprehensible grunts, the half-demoness quietly introduced herself as well: "Sucy. My name is Sucy."

It wasn't long before the girls gotten a tad more talkative, and began talking it out about various thing. From Akko's school days, to Sucy's odd home life… They discussed a lot of things, up until Sucy got worried that her family might go looking for her and start asking questions, and soon ran off, not explaining anything to Akko…

But at least telling her that she hopes to meet up with her again.

**It was by then that their soul bond was already getting quite strong, even if either of the girls were yet to realize it.**


	15. Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko finally catches up to Sucy, and has quite the confession to make. Meanwhile, Diana certainly ends up at the wrong place at the wrong time.

"So, Lotte said that these two went to the Broken District, right?"

The distance over to the rough part of the town was by no means too large, but given how urgent the situation was, Diana couldn't afford to waste any time, so she had to enlist someone else's help in getting there fast.

Luckily, the newcomer to the Order, Amanda, had a motorcycle ready at all times, so she offered to give the blonde a ride over to the Broken District, yet even on the way there, while she was supposed to concentrate on the road, the redhead kept asking Diana some unnecessary questions.

Honestly, Diana wondered just how exactly was Amanda able to successfully get a driver's license so darn early, given just how darn reckless the Irish-American was.

"Exactly!" – Diana shouted, trying to make sure that Amanda would at least hear her over the noise of the motorcycle engine.

Before Amanda could ask something else, a red light lit up on a stoplight just ahead, so the redhead had to stop the motorcycle as quickly as she could, with the machine's tires screeching against the cold asphalt like no tomorrow.

"You know, I didn't suspect you'd be so darn worried over Akko. Mind telling me what's the big problem?" – The redhead continued, turning around to face Diana.

"She's just a childhood friend of mine and I'm worried about her. That's all there is to it." – Diana inwardly cursed the fact that the only other helmet that Amanda had was an open-face one, as otherwise it would've at least partially hidden her blush.

"Really now? Something's telling me it's all about the fact that she and Sucy are all left alone with each other." – Seeing that Diana visibly flinched upon hearing that, Amanda snickered and added: "Gotcha, didn't I? So now let me guess – friends since middle school, went to same class, joined the same organization, and sincerely hoped that you and Akko would eventually go on to be more than just friends, probably having some real pleasant dreams about her every night to boot? But alas, next thing ya know, that demon girl comes around, and suddenly swipes your girl right outta your hands. Cue the jealousy you are barely even trying to hide."

"Green light, Amanda." – Diana quipped, both trying to avoid the subject and to get Amanda to pay more attention to the road.

"Stop pulling this sh- **oh crap, you're right!** "

While the ride continued, Diana still couldn't help but wonder…

**Maybe it really was more than her worries for Akko's safety that motivated her to seek her out at that moment** **?**

* * *

"There you are again!"

It was their usual meeting spot – the small open yard just a couple minutes of walking away from the house where Sucy's family lived. The weather was all the same - light snow, without even a tiny hint of wind. And once again, there wasn't a single person out there for miles except for the two girls meeting up.

"Sorry I've kept you waiting, but I swear, I just **had** to get something for you! After all, it is New Year's Eve today, so I figured that, since we're kinda friends and all, I just **have** to get you something! That's what friends do, right?"

The horned girl cast the brunette another bashful look as she sat on the snow. The fact that her birthday coincided with another holiday did not do anything to make her feel any better, especially considering that her mere existence in this world was but a mere fluke, an accident…

And yet she still felt that it would be too rude to reject Akko's gift just on the grounds of not liking the holiday…

* * *

That was it. Whereas Akko used only a small bit of her ethereal energy to stay in flight, and thus could chase Sucy all day long if she needed to, the transformed half-demoness didn't have it as easy. After all, the prior transformation and fight already cost her quite a bit of energy, and flying around the city at ungodly high speeds had to tire her out even more, so it wasn't long before the unlucky Lilim stopped at some dead end to sit down and catch her breath.

As Akko entered the dead end, she could swear that the place was even more familiar. She could swear that the fence that turned this otherwise normal, if tight street into a dead end certainly wasn't there prior…

It wasn't long until Akko noticed Sucy sitting in the snow, resting her face on her knees.

* * *

"And your parents didn't even buy any gifts? Not even any sweets?"

The demoness shook her head.

"That… That just plain won't do! I swear, if you are lucky enough to be born on New Year's Eve, you **have** to celebrate it to the fullest!" – As Akko said that, she fumbled around in her pockets for something else before procuring a small shiny trinket. – "Here. If I had known it was actually your birthday, I **swear** I would bring a better gift, but…" – The young brunette bashfully handed the trinket to Sucy. – "…Here."

It was a lily-shaped silver brooch.

How or where Akko managed to get this, Sucy didn't even bother to inquire.

After all, it wasn't the gift's origins that mattered to her at that moment.

Right now, what mattered was the message and intent behind the gift.

For all the times Sucy's mother told her to never cry no matter how sad she felt, this was one of the few when she couldn't hold back her tears.

For those were tears of genuine **joy**.

* * *

"Why did you even bother following me?"

This was the first question that Sucy asked to Akko the moment the brunette approached her.

"You know all too well I cannot just let you go."

Sucy chuckled. Her usual deadpan voice sounded even more otherworldly given her current form, echoing in an odd way.

"You keep on saying that. Why are you so darn persistent still? It's because of the bond, isn't it?"

As Akko leaned forward and knelt down before Sucy, the demoness only briefly gazed back up at her before averting her gaze yet again. Sucy felt that she didn't even deserve to look at Akko, let alone be any closer to her after what she just did.

"Sucy, you know all too well it's not about just the bond. I told you, you are my responsibility. And I certainly said that way before we remembered that bond we had, didn't I?"

Gathering up her courage yet again, Sucy gazed up at Akko's partially transformed form once more.

True, the only angelic elements the brunette had were just the usual wings seemingly made out of light, and the aura surrounding her, but still… Sucy couldn't help but remark just how gorgeous Akko looked. Just how… Beautiful she really was.

Strange, isn't it? Normally demons are repelled by the sheer blinding light of the angels' auras, yet Akko's aura… Made her feel at ease somehow.

"Look at you. You're a beautiful half-angel. Even at the halfway point of your transformation, you are dazzlingly gorgeous. Nothing like the horrible, feral beast that I am." – Sucy's mouth didn't even move as she spoke, making the whole sight yet more surreal.

"Don't be ridiculous, Sucy. To me, you're still beautiful. And I know for certain that you would never hurt me." – As Akko spoke, Sucy had already began slowly reverting back to her more normal form, and within mere moments, the only signs of Sucy's transformation were now just her demonic wings and slightly elongated horns.

"And besides, I think there is more than just the link between our souls that binds us. It's a also a particular mutual feeling."

Sucy seemed somewhat confused as she looked Akko in the eyes, before the brunette added: "Give up? It's **love** , silly!"

It was at this moment that Sucy's breath was practically stuck in her throat, with the demoness having to take some time to catch her breath.

Did Akko… Really love her despite everything that just happened mere moments ago? Despite all the carnage Sucy's caused over the years, whether directly or not, despite the sheer feral horror that was the half-Lilim's true self, and even despite her treatment of the brunette, having forgotten the bond that was established between them in the first place?

"Huh. Talk about the weirdest moment for a love confession, don't you think, Akko?" – Sucy quipped, trying to alleviate the tension as Akko helped her get up. – "Not to mention that some dead end in a rundown district is hardly an appropriately romantic setting."

"Well, guess we just had to work with what we have!" – The brunette replied, grinning as she did so. It was by then that both their transformations had ceased, with them both now returning back to their usual, more human selves.

As Sucy and Akko both looked up in the sky, they soon noticed that the previously clear evening sky was covered in light clouds, and soon enough, a gentle snowfall had started.

"Quite the good timing, I must say." – Sucy deadpanned, blushing.

Sure, a dead-end alleyway really may not have been the most appropriate place for this, but…

Before Sucy could say anything else, Akko leaned forward and kissed her.

At first Sucy felt more than a little reluctant, and was half a mind to push Akko away, but soon gave in, returning the brunette's kiss as well.

…Yet unbeknownst to them, a particular blonde was watching the scene unfold, standing a safe distance away.

**Her concerns really were true after all.**

Not having any better way to respond to what had just transpired before her, Diana threw both her guns against the ground and ran away.

The resulting sounds were more than enough to break Sucy and Akko out of their kiss.

Still a little dazed, the two girls soon noticed something that wasn't in the dead end alley before. A pair of all-too-familiar guns was lying nearby, seemingly thrown onto the ground full-force, judging by their current state and the prior noises.

"Sucy...Are those...Diana's guns?"

**The fading sound of distant rapid footsteps all but confirmed Akko's suspicions.**


	16. Conflict

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Given the prior day's unexpected change of plans, Lotte' s informant visits the Order in person. Meanwhile, the conflict between Sucy and Diana escalates yet further.

It was a typical hectic Monday afternoon. Amongst all the passersby, a scrawny-looking hooded figure was quietly moving through the streets. No one really seemed to pay much attention to that particular person – heck, not even the teal lock of hair peeking out from under the hood was at all attracting any attention to them.

As soon as the hooded person made their way over to their intended destination, they quietly entered the odd building where the Order's headquarters were stationed. Making their way over to the head office, they lightly knocked on the door.

It would appear that Ursula's scrounging through her documents had to wait, as she closed her drawer and calmly remarked: "Yes, you can come in. I was alerted that you would be arriving."

As the hooded person entered the office, they looked around a bit before Chariot reassured them that there was no one else in the room for now.

Taking off her hood, the dark-skinned girl sighed in relief and remarked: "Lotte sent me here. Normally I'd never get out of my usual hiding place, but given the current situation, it appears I would have no other choice."

"I do recall two of my subordinates trying to seek you out just yesterday, also by the unlucky half-angel's recommendation. However, given some… Unusual circumstances, they had to call the search off." – The red-headed woman readjusted her glasses and asked: "Are you certain you won't end up caught out here, however?"

"I made absolute certain that no one would follow me here, keeping a low profile and winding the route around like no tomorrow. Then again, I was already intending to leave for a different hiding place, as well as transfer my intel somewhere more secure, so even if they were to start searching for me even now, they'd probably find my usual hideout completely empty, without anything to point them to me. As for right now, let's just say that the Sentinels really wouldn't think to look practically right under their noses to check for any rogue angels like me." – The navy-haired girl explained, then, taking a deep breath, remarked: "Speaking of which, I have more than my fair share of information on the Sentinels' current plans. Or rather, the truth behind them. "

* * *

Meanwhile, just a few rooms away, in the training room, Diana was emptying clip after clip into the practice targets, although compared to her usual professionalism even in training, she was just rapid-firing at the darn things, not even caring whether she would hit them dead-center or not.

"You know, I can't help but feel like you've put those earmuffs on less for the sake of protecting your ears, and more for drowning me out!" – Amanda shouted, currently sitting just nearby, but alas, if even gunshot noises couldn't get through those earmuffs, then what were the chances for mere shouting?

Eventually, it seemed that Diana had enough, as she once again put both her prized guns down and took her ear protection off, turning to face Amanda and remarking: "Yes, because I am not intending to hear another of your tirades on relationships. Your reassurance, or rather attempts at it, is the last thing I need."

"Gee, it turned out that the gal you were pining after doesn't have the same feelings for you, so what? Big deal! I've had plenty of such cases with the gals I'm going after turning out to either not swing that way or already having been taken, but hey, I'm not mad at them!" – The redhead retorted, shrugging. Diana just groaned and decided to get back to holy magic practice instead…

And it was at this moment that Sucy and Akko entered the room, seemingly having decided on some magic training. As Diana and Sucy exchanged death glares once again, before Akko could say anything to try and alleviate the tension, Amanda was the first to butt in: "Come to think of it, I've got other things to do than watch two girls fighting over another girl, so I'm going home! Bye, everyone!"

And with that said, the redhead ran off, much to everyone else's confusion before it once again shifted back to mutual animosity between Sucy and Diana, as well as Akko's fear regarding these two.

"G-guys, I think I can do some training by myself, so I suggest you two leave me be for the time being, I kiiiinda need to concentrate and all!" – And now it was Akko who shoved both Sucy and Diana out of the room, soon shutting the door behind herself. While in truth she just didn't want to leave these two in a room full of various weapons, fearing that they'd hurt each other, there was also a grain of honesty to her lie, as she figured that her soul connection to Sucy would probably hinder the training proper, given her inability to even muster any intent to hurt Sucy.

"So, I suppose you two had quite the interesting weekend, didn't you?" – Diana remarked dryly as she and Sucy went down the corridor over to the elevator.

"You could say so. You don't get chased by two archangels into the deepest creeks of the city every day, you know." – Sucy remarked, still giving Diana that tell-tale death glare. – "And you must have had quite the wild ride in your attempts to track me and Akko down, didn't you?"

"I suppose yesterday's events certainly led to a satisfying resolution for you, didn't they?" – Diana's tone at that exact moment was what made Sucy slowly turn back to face her and dryly demand: "Explain that one."

"Considering that you got to steal Akko's first kiss, I'm surprised you're not gloating over your most recent "victory" of sorts." – As the blonde said that, Sucy couldn't help but grit her teeth in anger. – "Must be great to have such a readily available source of soul energy on standby, isn't it?"

"First and foremost, **Jana** , no one stole anything from anyone. Back there, I was the **kissee,** not the **kisser**. " – As Sucy stared down at the blonde, completely focused, Diana could swear that her sole visible eye was glowing in the relative dark of the corridor.

"Second, if you really did have feelings for Akko, you didn't have to beat around the bush so darn much. At least you would have had some closure when she rejected you outright. Thirdly, I never ever leeched off of Akko's soul. If I did, I'd probably end up killing myself with a holy energy overdose, especially given her… Real nature. And fourth…" – Okay, now Diana could swear that Sucy's horns had grown longer by an inch or two as she scowled at her and finished: "Akko was never yours to begin with, if the bond between her and me is anything to go by. "

**SLAP!**

As Sucy rubbed her hurt cheek, she looked at Diana with a completely baffled expression, being met with a cold and dry stare as the blonde lowered her hand.

"You don't even remember how that "bond" of yours came to be in the first place. You have no rights to claim Akko like this. " – Diana quipped off, not even minding the fact that she just revealed her eavesdropping on the conversation between Sucy, Akko and Lotte the day prior.

By that point, the two girls were already near the elevator, so before Sucy could even retort in any way, Diana quietly entered the aforementioned elevator and headed back to the first floor, as the blonde felt she might as well head home early, especially given how difficult it was for her to put up with Sucy's mere presence nowadays.

Sucy groaned in frustration, and figured she might as well head on over to the training room to check up on Akko.

**Right now, she certainly needed some respite from what just happened.**

* * *

"So what you're saying is, someone is trying to sabotage the Sentinels from within?"

Molly quietly nodded in response.

"Something really odd is going on." – The dark-skinned angel replied. – "The orders are being relayed completely differently from what was officially given. The original order was to seek out any and all half-demons within the city, with a quiet interrogation that wouldn't attract any unwanted attention to the Sentinels' work and scare off the potential target, and yet we all see what's actually happening. And now the border Sentinels are being dispatched from their posts one after another, supposedly assigned to further searches throughout the city. Someone is actively trying to accomplish their own agenda, completely separate from the main conflict. " – As Molly said all that, she sighed and got off the seat. – "Now if you'll excuse me, I should be heading back to my home base. I need to continue collecting intel further. I'll have Lotte or one of her acquaintances amongst your ranks inform you if I find anything. "

"Yes, I understand. It was a pleasure meeting you, young Miss McIntyre. Goodbye." – And with that said, as the dark-skinned girl left the office, Chariot sighed and continued her search through the documents in her desk, soon pulling out a particular photo.

A photo of her in her late teens, still as an Angel Sentinel, decked out in the same ivory and gold uniform, with a particular human girl standing next to her decked out in basically the same uniform, said girl being the only other human amongst the Sentinels' ranks.

The other girl had lavender hair and greenish-teal eyes, and wore a pair of all-too-familiar rectangle-framed glasses.

**"Croix…**

Wherever you are, I just hope you won't get caught up in all **this**."


	17. Outrage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A demon's rage is truly a horrifying sight to behold. Both for humans and for fellow demons alike.

The Abyss was far from silent. Across all of it's three Circles, there was always some activity going on. Be it the feral demons of the Third Circle, a dimension which consisted of nothing but burnt down wastelands with the only vegetation being mere mockery of the human world's trees, fighting for dominance, with Hellhounds preying on Imps and Nightmares trying to keep all of those lesser creatures in check, the Second Sphere with all the chaos going on within it's small settlements, which, despite being very much inhabited, looked more like they were reduced to mere ruins ages ago, or even the complete lava-filled wasteland that was the First Circle, wherein the Archdemons often fought to prove dominance over their lesser kin.

In the center of it all was Queen Lilithia's palace, which existed in a plane that was simultaneously part of the Abyss and a pocket dimension of it's own. And to be honest, the isolation did that place well, as it kept all of the noise of the rest of the Abyssal Plane outside…

But it hardly prevented any noise **inside** , that was for certain.

Apollyon was rampaging once again, wrecking the throne room apart as Lilithia stayed a safer distance away, whereas Alastor tried to find some shelter from his father's wrath. The mountainous bovine-serpentine's wrath was unstoppable as he toppled pillar after pillar, and broke through the walls in his fury, the resulting holes leading to the void surrounding the palace.

"I am going to murder that half-angel filth! Not only did she have the gall to murder my son, but she also went as far as to taint Reyna's daughter with her angelic presence! I will chew that pathetic little worm right up then spit her out and incinerate what's still left of her after the ordeal!"

"Father, please, your bad temper is clearly getting the best of you. You have to calm down. We cannot even get into the city, as the barrier is not yet sufficiently weakened!" – Alastor tried to reason with the other demon, but the sole response he got was getting nearly knocked off his hooves by a serpentine tail.

"Apollyon, stop this!" – Despite Lilithia's intonation, she hardly raised her voice, her tone still remaining the same tranquil yet furious one. Seeing that Apollyon was not going to calm down anytime soon even despite direct orders from his mistress, she knew she had to act quickly.

Spreading her wings out, Lilithia slightly breathed in, then let out a long, drawn-out wail that soon resonated throughout the entire chamber, and, due to the faults in the castle's walls, soon echoed out into the rest of the Abyss. The effect of the wail was near instant, as all demons that heard it's sound stopped for a few moments before kneeling down and facing what they perceived to be the source of the noise. With the Archdemons being the ones to hear the wail at it's strongest, being as close to the source of it as they could without being present within the palace proper, they weren't simply brought down to their knees, but fell right to the ground, not even able to muster any strength to get up.

Such was the power of a Demon Queen. The Wail of Dominance, a power that was used only as an absolute last resort, and what every last demon feared to ever hear in their life. For the Wail's power overrode every last thought in their minds, every last instinct in a feral's conscious, and temporarily deprived the demons of any free will they might've had, forcing them to their knees until their mistress had a moment of mercy and would stop the wail.

As Lilithia kept on going, she soon noticed that the intended effect was achieved pretty quickly. Apollyon was forced down onto the ground, lying on his front as the seething rage in his eyes seemed to calm down. Alastor, being weaker than his father, has long lost consciousness, now lying on his front on the ground as well.

Stopping the Wail, Lilithia took a deep, long breath, and walked over to gaze Apollyon into his serpentine eyes, and then coldly remarked: "Do not forget who is in power here. I am not the Demon Queen for nothing. My voice transcends the entire Abyssal Plane, and my will is not to be resisted. I myself did not want to do this, but you left me no choice. Such outbursts is not something I would expect from you of all demons. "

It was unknown for how long was Lilithia's speech going to go on, had it not been for the all-too-familiar orb shining a bright red once more, so Lilithia immediately flew over to it.

Southern Cross was back with news regarding the situation within the city.

* * *

The atmosphere within the Order's headquarters was as tense as ever. Given that the conflict between Sucy and Diana continued on escalating yet further, it was no surprise that the only thing preventing these two from beginning to fight it out to the death were the presence of other Apprentices and employees of the Order within the building, as well as the one single inhibiting thought being that Akko would certainly be upset with either of them if they were to hurt each other in any way.

…That did not stop the passive-aggressive verbal conflicts, however.

"So what is it about your and Akko's training now? You seem surprisingly calm with the thought of staying here as a complete and utter freeloader." – Diana remarked as she entered the all-too-familiar infirmary and noticed Sucy lying on the same bed as she usually occupied.

"Right, because I'm fairly certain there is **totally** someone in this city who would **love** to have a demon roommate, without any of their neighbors or relatives objecting to the notion." – The demoness deadpanned, giving the blonde the same disinterested stare.

"I'm just curious. Normally, when a demon is busy leeching off of someone else's soul, they usually offer them something in return. Right now, you're not giving Akko **anything**." – This only elicited another drawn-out groan from Sucy as she explained: "I thought we went over this ages ago. I am not leeching off of Akko's energy in any way. Quite the contrary, it's a mutually beneficial bond, no parasitism involved." – After a few moments, she mockingly added: "Well what do you know, I can speak fancy too! Any more questions, Prissy?"

"Why did you have to show up just when my life was finally going well? I've gotten a good side job as part of the Order, my education was going practically erfectly, there was even potential for the relationship between me and Akko to be taken yet further, and then you show up and twist everything around!" – The blonde snapped off.

"Methinks someone protests way too much and feels way too entitled to Akko's company."

"Look who's talking." – Diana dryly remarked, prompting Sucy to once again get up from her bed and rushed over to her, once again having a good few inches on her while standing up straight and so practically looming over the blonde.

"I have a spiritual bond to back my statements up. What is your excuse for trying to get into Akko's good graces so madly?" – The demoness remarked.

"I refuse to acknowledge that there would be any sort of bond between someone as pure as Akko and a filthy abyss spawn like you. What kind of monstrosity even birthed you out upon this world, anyway? Probably a typical selfish Lilim that just constantly leeched off of some unlucky down-on-his-luck moron's soul, that's who!"

Now Diana certainly struck a nerve with Sucy.

Once again did the memories rush back. Finding the note, getting ambushed by her father, tearing that monster in human form to shreds…

"Now I understand why she'd disown you. After all, she just wasn't willing to share any soul energy with a little greedy freeloader like you, was she?" – The same dry tone persisted in Diana's words, which only served to tip Sucy off more than if she were to keep up a far smugger one. – "As for your father, he was probably just drained dry and left to be thrown away somewhere else entirely, not even given a proper burial. Now I see. The bad blood really does run deep from both sides, doesn't it? **Especially from the mother's side.** "

" **Enough!** " – This was one of the few times that Sucy managed to barely hold back tears, now once again angrily scowling at Diana before continuing her speech: "Who are you to talk about any sort of misfortune if your life handed everything to you on a silver platter? And what would you even know about my mother that's just not a bunch of harmful demonic stereotypes? For all I care, my mother was a mere slave to that damn demonologist I've had for a father! This filth barely even treated her as a living, feeling being, and wanted to dispose of me just because he feared he'd get discovered and rightfully executed for all his misdeeds! But even then, I'm at least trying to be a better person and don't blame everyone else for my misfortunes! What is your excuse?! "

Before Diana could muster any semblance of an answer, Sucy dryly added: "As for your situation, just remember one thing. When you reach a high point in life, it will always try to slam you face-down into the ground, **as painfully as possible. Take it from somebody who experienced it way too often for the past couple years.** " – It was at this point that Sucy's halfway transformation set in – abyssal-matter coated wings, elongated horns, ash-like skin…

And just like that, before the blonde could stop her, the demoness immediately broke through a nearby window and flew off, entering a more open area, then beginning to rapidly gain height before breaching the dome of angelic energy surrounding Blytonbury, not even feeling anything from passing through the now-weakened barrier. From there, the direction of her flight was unknown.

As Diana looked at the broken window, still shocked, she soon fell to her knees in realization of what just happened.

Not helping matters was Akko rushing right in and rapidly spouting off "Whatjusthappenedandwhyisthewindowbroken?"

Calming down for a few moments, Akko noticed Diana staring out the broken window and, now a bit more coherently, asked: "Diana… Where is Sucy? Why is the window broken?"

Looking down in shame, the blonde groaned out in grief, trying to articulate an appropriate response before she just wearily remarked:

" **I've said something truly, absolutely horrible to Sucy."**


	18. Breach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One single misunderstanding forces a change of plans for Croix. Meanwhile, Akko continues her search for Sucy outside the city, whilst Amanda gives Diana a bit of relationship advice.

"It appears that the barrier has been sufficiently weakened by my manipulatiuns. The most recent breach, detected in some odd corner of the city, confirms it."

As Lilithia held the orb in her hands, listening to Croix relaying the most recent news regarding the situation within the city, the demoness kept the same unfaltering expression as always.

"And what… Exactly was the nature of the breach?"

For one of the few times during their alliance, Lilithia heard Croix's voice on the other end falter briefly.

"The…The signature was the same as when the half-breed **entered** the city, Mistress Lilithia. It appears that something drove her to escape the city, although I don't yet know all the details. ." – Croix's voice seemed to be a little shaky as she told the truth, before she resignedly breathed out: "It appears that our own plan didn't go as intended. The half-lilim escaped and her current whereabouts are unknown. "

The demon queen merely let out a disappointed sigh. She wasn't angry at Croix at all – given her subordinates' dealings with mortals, humans often tended to mess things up where least expected.

"Worry not, Meridies. If anything, you've driven our target out of the formerly-impenetrable space, so at least you've achieved something. And even if she does return to the city, by then the barrier would be sufficiently weakened for our forces to successfully enter Blytonbury and hunt her down. We'll try not to-" – It was at this moment that Lilithia felt something… Off. A sudden spike of abyssal energy going off just behind her. The demon queen immediately turned around to look at where Apollyon formerly lied unconscious… Only to find that he had disappeared, seemingly having teleported out of the throne room while Lilithia wasn't looking.

And judging by her being unable to feel his presence within the Abyss, he might've just entered the human world…

Lilithia stared with mild shock – or, well, the closest her expression could get to shock anyway – at the space previously occupied by the half-bovine half-serpentine creature, realizing just what happened at that exact moment.

"Is… Something the matter, Mistress?"

"Change of plans, Miss Meridies. It appears one of my generals misconstrued your recent information as a cue to attack. I am sensing several lesser demons exiting the Abyss and into the human world as well. Every single one appears to be part of Apollyon's followers. And I think I know just where he might be headed. " – With that said, Lilithia immediately cancelled her communication with Croix, as the orb normally used for the deed once again went dim.

* * *

"Come on, Sucy, where have you gone off to?!"

Having heard the painful news from Diana regarding Sucy's disappearance, Akko was quick to try and leave the city as quick as possible in search for the half-demon. Unfortunately, there was but one lingering problem – the brunette had no idea as to where exactly had Sucy gone off to, as no one could really trace her flight trajectory after she left the city.

"This is no good… How was she even able to get enough strength to breach that darn barrier in the first place?! No demons can get in or out while the barrier is up!" – Akko thought as she continued flying throughout the small deserted towns surrounding Blytonbury. – "Did the barrier somehow get weakened or was she really that angry that she had enough strength to just break right through it?

Cities and small towns which were left unprotected by angelic barriers were always out of luck, it seemed. The only places still left at all inhabited were the ones protected by various Angel Federation forces, the Sentinels of Blytonbury being one such unit. As for the other, unprotected places,, they were borderline defenseless – with no barrier to deter the demons from trying to sneak into the towns through the Abyss, giving the damn things free reign over the place, the only hope their inhabitants had was getting their hands on blessed weapons, or hoping that maybe, just maybe, the Federation would consider them worth keeping around for any geopolitical reason.

Akko often wondered just why the demons had to attack one city after another. Given her experience with greater demons like Sucy, it hardly seemed like a mere lust for destruction. From what little she heard of the demon attacks, way before the demons started targeting completely abandoned towns for no good reason other than to hunt Sucy down, they were apparently seeking to seize control of certain settlements, mostly the ones wherein the barrier between the human world and the Abyss was at it's thinnest. So that it was the easiest to return back to the human world from these particular locations… 

When Akko began nearing an all-too-familiar district, her thoughts were interrupted as she sensed something rather unusual.

She could practically feel it. Sucy was in one of the buildings, currently sitting on the cold, hard floor, as Akko presumed by an odd feeling of coldness she got the moment she neared the derelict. Seems like some sensations did transfer over their bond after all.

As Akko landed near that particular house, she noticed that the door was completely intact, whereas the sole window the house had was basically absent – no signs of any frame or anything.

Sighing, the brunette walked over to the window and peeked in.

Sucy was sitting on the floor, having her wings wrapped around herself and resting her face on her knees. From the angle that Akko peeked in at, the half demoness' face was completely obscured by her hair, so it was difficult for Akko to get any read on her current emotions.

Not that she needed to, anyway.

The sorrow and shame were translating all too well over their bond, with Akko being quite unsure how much of it was her own, and how much of it was transferred from Sucy.

* * *

In the meantime, Diana was sitting in the break room on the usual couch, quietly sipping her tea whilst Amanda was sitting just nearby, leaning back with an incredibly uninterested expression.

The quiet of the room was getting more than a little awkward. Amanda could very much notice that, despite the blonde's unfaltering expression, the cup in Diana's hands was still shaking quite a bit, although the annoying ringing hardly diffused the awkward silence in any way.

"Alright, Cavendish, what's the big deal? Ever since Akko flew off to go look for Sucy, you've been on edge like this for Alyssion knows how long! Is it still about this whole debacle with these two?" – Amanda asked, sounding noticeably annoyed.

"This is none of your business, O'Neill. For all I care, you don't seem to have a whole lot of psychological experience to try and pry any answers out of me." – The blonde retorted, leaving the Irish-American even further annoyed.

"I may be no psychologist, but hey, I guess I know a bit more about matters of the heart than you do, apparently. And let me tell ya, I know how it bloody feels."

The redhead's words made Diana freeze up briefly, even stopping her teacup from clanging around against the plate in her hands.

"What?' – The blonde asked.

"Hm?"

"What kind of feeling are you going on about, O'Neill?" – Diana reiterated as she put the cup down onto the coffee table.

"Daaamn, are ya even denser than Akko or what? I'm talking about this whole " _your crush leaving you for someone else before you even had a chance to 'fess up_ " thing, of course!" – Amanda remarked, now leaning a bit closer to Diana. As much as the blonde wanted to tell her off, she was still all too interested in what the redhead had to say, so she just sighed.

"Now first things first, it kinda is your fault for not having the heart to 'fess up about your feelings towards Akko when you had the chance. Little wonder she ran off with a different candidate as soon as possible, and she's got all the reasons to. Think about it – that demon gal owes Akko her very life, they have some sort of weird soul bond, and they even met way back in their elementary years – so yeah, you've got quite the mix for a potential relationship." – Amanda continued explaining, although after seeing Diana's deadpan expression that just screamed "You're not helping, she reiterated: "All I mean to say is, just let Akko decide. If she wants to be with that mauve-haired cutie, let her. If ya love 'em - then let 'em go, that sort of thing. Besides, you two are still friends and partners in combat, right?"

Diana merely sighed in response before turning to face Amanda and replying: "Never thought of you as a relationship doctor type."

"Hey, if I've the experience, why not put it to good use when the situation's callin' for it?" – Cue Amanda nudging Diana in the shoulder, making the blonde grunt in slight pain. – "Auntie Amanda's always willing to help!"

"You… Do realize that I'm almost a year older than you?" – The blonde deadpanned.

"Well, regardless, I'm still more than willing to give ya some necessary advice when needed." – It was by this point that Amanda was getting a tad too close to Diana, and her hand was just nearing the blonde's until…

A sudden rumble rang through the faraway streets, followed by multiple screams of panic and a loud broadcast over the city radio system:

" **Attention, citizens of Blytonbury! The barrier was breached! We are under attack by an Archdemon! Don't panic, keep calm and move towards the city exit, or, if you are too far away, to the nearest available shelter! Repeat, don't panic and stay calm!** "


	19. Resurgence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko's wild chase after Sucy pays off, it seems. Too bad that while they were gone, the city they were meant to return to was attacked by Apollyon... Who was searching for the at-the-moment-absent Akko, no less.

"What makes you so insistent on trying to bring me back to the city?"

That was the question that Akko was faced with the moment Sucy's sole visible eye met hers yet again.

There they were, in the same old derelict, with Sucy sitting on the floor and looking up at Akko, whilst the brunette stood there, trying to avoid eye contact with the other girl.

Swallowing hard, Akko took another deep breath and asked back: "What do you mean?"

Sucy groaned and looked off to the side, then added in her usual deadpan tone: "It's because of the bond, isn't it? I honestly can't think of any other excuse why you would keep on sticking to me like a piece of flypaper. "

Despite herself, the brunette didn't give any sort of verbal answer. She just slowly approached the half-demoness, and knelt down as soon as she got close enough.

Once again did the demoness cast her another one of those glares. Her expression shifted from sadness and anger to light shock rather quickly.

"Sucy, I don't know what Diana said to you back there, but I know for sure that none of her insults, if there were any, are true. In my eyes, you always have and always will be a good person, bad blood in the family be damned. " - As Akko said that, she placed her hand on Sucy's cheek. The half-demoness, in turn, placed her hand on Akko's, though her expression still stayed the same uncaring one for the time being. Yet the brunette could very much swear that there were tears in Sucy's sole visible eye.

"Still, you didn't answer my prior question. What exactly makes you want to have me around?" – Sucy asked as Akko pulled her hand away, looking off to the side yet again. Yet it seemed that Akko wasn't having any of this, and soon the half-demoness found herself feeling Akko's palm on her cheek, now moving her bangs off to the side as well.

"It's because I need you, Sucy. Because I want to explore the feelings between us yet further." – Akko took a brief pause, looking off to the side, before facing Sucy yet again and adding: "And, of course, because you are my-"

"Akko, if you call me your soulmate, or, Lilith forbid, **darling,** I will slap you right there." – Sucy raised her free hand as if to slap Akko, but instead lightly brushed it against the brunette's cheek and sighed. – "Okay, I wouldn't actually do that, but you get my-"

The demoness didn't even get a chance to finish, as Akko had just clutched her in a tight embrace. This was probably one of the few times that Sucy didn't end up wincing in pain from such a nearly bone-crushing hug.

"-point." – Seeing that Akko wasn't really going to listen to her any further, the demoness returned the embrace and added: "Alright, I suppose there's no re-convincing you. Even if I won't agree to heading back into the city, you'd probably grab me and carry me in your arms all the way over to the city, wouldn't you?" – Judging by Sucy's previous deadpan tone changing to a somewhat more mischievous one, it seemed that Akko's attempt at slightly uplifting her spirits wasn't in vain.

"Well… If I had the strength to do so, I probably would." – The brunette replied, grinning as she helped Sucy up off the floor.

The duo soon stepped out into the all-too familiar empty streets of the former village. By then, it was already lightly snowing outside, but the downfall wasn't too overwhelming, which meant that neither Sucy nor Akko would have too much trouble making it back to the city.

"You know, this is just a hunch…" – Sucy looked up at the sky, noticing the snow clouds that were, thankfully, somewhat sparse for the time being. – "…But I'm kinda getting the feeling that, even if there was an intense snowstorm raging on, you'd probably chase me all the way here regardless. "

Akko chuckled and remarked: "Darn right I would! I wouldn't leave you all the way out there in some Alyssion-forsaken derelict no matter what else happens! Now come on, we're going back to the city!" – and with that said, the brunette once again let her angelic wings out, taking Sucy's hand as she did.

The demoness nodded, and took a deep breath. It seems that she became more used to the feeling of extending her wings out, as she didn't even remotely wince in pain once the partial transformation was done.

"You know, even though this isn't my first ever flight… Well, I got to admit that I'm a little nervous about the prospect of flying together with you, hand in hand." – Akko remarked, looking over the horizon.

"I'm sure this definitely won't be our last flight together. You'll have plenty of time to get used to it." – Sucy remarked, smirking.

And with one right motion, the duo took off from the ground, heading back over to the city.

Not too long after, just moments before Blytonbury began showing up on the horizon, Akko couldn't help but strike up a conversation with Sucy mid-flight: "You know, there was something I was wondering about ever since your prior escape. "

"Why exactly I bothered flying over to this particular derelict?" – Sucy shouted back the loudest she could.

"No, not that! How exactly were you able to **breach the barrier** so easily?"

It was at this moment that Sucy stopped right in her tracks, only barely preventing herself from plummeting down by hovering in place.

"I… Honestly don't know. In fact, the moment I flew out of the city, I didn't even **feel** any sort of barrier. Like there wasn't any to begin with."

Now it was Akko's turn to nearly plummet to the ground in shock, with the demoness barely managing to catch her on time.

"Sucy… You don't think that someone within the city might have sabotaged the barrier?" – The brunette asked, sounding a little worried.

"I don't simply **think** , I know it. After all, if the barrier was still up, I think I would definitely feel it, and plummet down like a moth that just hit an electric flytrap. For all I care, Noire might've already sent an Archdemon into the city to hunt me down. She's simply that predictable..." – With that said, Sucy gestured Akko to keep on going, with Akko following her somewhat unsurely.

And sure enough, as soon as they arrived near the city, they noticed a mountain-sized demon practically trashing the city. Toppling buildings, incinerating angelic Sentinels the moment they got anywhere near them, and screeching loudly all the while.

Akko could very much swear that she could hear her name in one of those screeches.

"Huh. Remind me, did you ever get any archdemons angry enough for them to want you dead and to start seeking you out?" – Sucy deadpanned, heading to land just a few kilometers away from the city border.

"None that I met personally, that's for sure." – Akko replied, missing the point of Sucy's question. – "Either way, we gotta try and get back into the city without being shot down on the spot. Or, well, getting noticed by the Archdemon and ending up swatted down. "

As luck would have it, most of the Sentinels were too busy fending Apollyon off and evacuating the citizens somewhere safer as to lessen the casualties, so the duo had a relatively easy entrance into the city, especially given the fact that the barrier was not yet resealed.

As soon as the duo landed near the Order's headquarters, they were almost immediately dragged into the building by Diana and Amanda.

"Gee, took you two long enough!" – Amanda remarked as the group made it over to the elevator.

"Sorry, I had to do a bit of counseling for Sucy's sake." – Akko replied, dusting herself off and retracting her wings. She soon noticed Sucy giving Diana the same cold, angry stare, whilst Diana herself just avoided any sort of eye contact with Sucy altogether, looking downright embarrassed, given the prior circumstances.

"Anyway…" – Amanda tried to break up the resulting silence. – "Lotte's here, and she wants to meet up with ya two. She has some ideas on what to do with… Well, I guess you saw the darn thing in the middle of the city. That ginger angel assumes that ya two might be able to rip that Archdemon a new one, but didn't quite tell us how. "

Sure enough, as soon as the duo made it into Chariot Du Nord's office, they noticed that the only person present there was none other than the all-too-familiar full-moon-glasses-wearing ginger half-angel.

"You two finally arrived. Good, now we can get to discussing our plan."

* * *

Meanwhile, Chariot herself was running through the streets, trying to get to the Sentinels' headquarters as soon as possible. The last thing she needed was her former colleague getting caught up in all of this!

As she passed through the streets, the redheaded woman noticed that the Sentinels were all busy with the lesser demons – some were fighting off crowds of imps, some were dealing with hellhounds and nightmares, heck, at least two Archangels were currently fighting off an entire damn herd's worth of the latter!

Honestly, Chariot was really thankful that they all ignored her for the time being. Sure, she was certain that she still had it in her and could fight off a few demons if needed to, but for the time being, Du Nord preferred to avoid any direct confrontations.

It was very likely that Croix was the one commanding all these units, and judging by what Chariot overheard from the occasional communicator chatter, her former colleague was still alive and in one piece, currently positioned in the Sentinels' headquarters and relaying Trisagion's orders to the units around the city.

As soon as Chariot approached the all-too-familiar pristine building, she overheard one of the door guards being given an order to let a particular "redhead" through, and sure enough, the two Sentinels standing at the door didn't even remotely object as Chariot, albeit only after sputtering out a hasty apology, ran right into the building.

"There you are, Du Nord! I was beginning to worry that you and your Order got obliterated in the attack." – The lavender-haired woman remarked as soon as she noticed Chariot entering the building. Her tone didn't seem to show much genuine concern, however, and was more akin to a mocking one.

"And I thought you got caught up in the most recent attack." – Chariot replied, her voice also sounding a tad on the passive-aggressive side. – "I guess neither of us is such a high enough priority target for that Archdemon to hunt down, huh?"

"Either way, you're clearly not here to chatter on about how long it has been and how much time passed since we last met, are you?" – Croix remarked, crossing her arms and smirking.

"You're making a correct guess here, Meridies. Me and the Order had devised a plan on how to kill off that particular Archdemon with minimal losses."

There was a slight spark of interest in the lavender-haired woman's eyes as she heard that.

"Very well then."

" **Go on ahead, tell me what your master plan is**."


	20. Planning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotte explains the plan on how to kill off Apollyon once and for all. In the meantime, Chariot has to try and convince her former comrade to help her fulfill her part of the plan.

"Trying to kill off that Archdemon with just a single Grand Cross is not going to do the damn thing much. Best-case scenario, it's just going to burn off a part of him, but not incapacitate him. Even a full-powered Grand Cross that would cost Akko her very soul still wouldn't finish him off."

At the moment, just about all of the Order's fighters gathered in the break room of their headquarters, with Diana sitting just next to Amanda on the couch, Lotte standing in front of everyone else, and Sucy and Akko just standing off to the side, the former leaning on a wall while the latter was sitting on a chair she snatched from somewhere within the Order's building, resting her chin on her hand.

"So what do you expect? For me to fly in point blank and just Abyssal Inferno him?"

_The Abyssal Inferno to demons was what Grand Cross is to angels – a spell that manifested from not just the user's soul, but from latent energy drawn from an external source. Whereas Grand Cross used souls of fallen humans and angels to power itself up, Abyssal Inferno instead drew upon the very energy that emanates throughout the entirety of the Abyss. The results, sadly, were largely the same, with the added possibility of a demon forever losing their connection to the Abyss if the spell was too powerful for them to handle. They would survive regardless, but honestly, with the way they would end up, none of their wounds ever regenerating and them being unable to draw sustenance from the Abyssal energy, the spell might as well have killed them off right there and then._

"That… Would not be necessary, not to mention it would probably make the situation worse. What I'm suggesting is that… Well, I suppose it is time to utilize your bond in **combat**." – Lotte remarked.

"Okay, so in theory, we both should fly in point blank, and let loose both spells at once?" – Akko asked, leading Sucy to sigh and Lotte to remark: "Not… Really, no."

Meanwhile, Diana was practically biting on her nails like no tomorrow, much to Amanda's slight surprise.

"Yo, everything alright?"

"They're talking so… Casually about going through with something that would cost them their lives or leave them forever crippled. What **is** their problem?" – The blonde explained quietly, briefly ceasing her nail-biting.

"I don't know what **their** problem is, but **your** problem is that you're ruining your own perfectly good manicure." – Amanda deadpanned, leaning back.

"What you're meant to do is channel your energies into an external conduit of sorts. A weapon that can conduct spiritual energies and would act as a relay for your power." – As the ginger said that, she procured a particular key from one of her pockets and went to unlock a formerly long untouched glass cabinet.

"Hang on… You're not talking about using… Chariot's prized gun, the **Shiny Flare**?" – As if to confirm Diana's words, Lotte took the ivory rifle out of the cabinet and handed it to Sucy and Akko. Despite the rifle having not been used for quite a while now, it was in almost perfect condition, save for a few pieces chipped off the ivory stock, and maybe a slightly bent golden front sight. Oddly enough, the rifle seemed to lack any sort of magazine that would be attached to it, so Akko could only assume it was a single-shot type.

"That's about the only sufficiently powerful long-ranged weapon we have here. And I think it should conduct spiritual energy – both angelic and demonic – just perfectly." – The half-angel remarked as she scanned the weapon through with some unbeknownst to everyone else spell.

"Okay, real nice, these two get to snipe the ginormous demon down, so what're the rest of us supposed to do?" – Amanda asked, shrugging.

"I suppose we will be fighting off the lesser demons, so that they won't interrupt Akko and Sucy while they're lining up a clean shot on the Archdemon." – Diana explained, with Lotte nodding in confirmation.

"Exactly. You two shall be positioned near the building so that, when the lesser demons get here, you will fend them off long enough to not end up going up the building and trying to disrupt the shot. As for your colleagues over here-" – Right on cue, Jasminka and Constanze stepped into the room, the latter holding a submachine gun in her hands. – "They will help me evacuate the civilians to safer areas that the lesser demons didn't yet reach, clearing the way through if needed to. That being said, we'll still have to make sure that the Sentinels would make the Archdemon hold still for long enough, and this here is the reason why Chariot had departed for the Sentinels' Headquarters earlier…"

* * *

Meanwhile, Chariot had just finished explaining Croix their part in the plan, fully expecting to be met with skepticism regarding her decision.

"So let me get this straight – you want me to assign one of the Sentinel squads to try and hold that Archdemon in place long enough for one of your subordinates to line up a clean shot on them with a purely experimental superweapon, getting a surefire headshot and hopefully killing the Archdemon off." – The lavender-haired woman remarked, crossing her arms. – "And you're not seeing any problems in this plan?"

"At this point, it isn't so much a plan as it is a desperate gamble. We all saw that the Archdemon swats Sentinels away like mosquitoes, and most long-ranged angel weaponry can hardly leave a scratch on the creature's scales. Our best bet is a purely experimental solution that should work in theory, but we don't know what the actual, practical results would be." – Chariot replied, avoiding eye contact with her former comrade. Croix kept on giving the redhead the same skeptical stare for a few more moments before sighing and remarking: "Either way, Chariot, I suppose we don't have much of a choice. After all, our only other option is… Getting the **Ivory Wings Unit** involved. And we all know how that would end."

The other woman couldn't help but shudder at the mere mention of that particular angelic unit.

"Which is why we're resorting to the only other option in the first place. We need this city still intact if we're to take this Archdemon down. "

"Very well then. I'll give my troops the appropriate directives. " – And with that said, Croix once again reached for her communicator and said: "To all units currently in close vicinity of the Leviathan-Class Archdemon – do not attempt direct attack! It's very likely that you'd end up swatted down or charred to a crisp if you do! Keep the creature restrained long enough, and try to lead it out into an open area to minimize the potential damage! Repeat, lead the Leviathan-Class Archdemon out into a more open area to minimize the potential damage! "

* * *

"So, do we just hold the gun in our hands, aim it down at the damn thing, and one of us pulls the trigger?"

In the meantime, back at the somewhat safer Human Order's Headquarters, Lotte was busy explaining the main part of the plan to Sucy and Akko.

"It's… Not quite that easy. You two will have to channel your spiritual energy into the weapon, so that it concentrates in the next shot fired. The resonance occurring because of your aura bond will strengthen the resulting blast of energy and it should be more than enough to, if not kill off the Archdemon outright, then at least leave a serious mark on the creature. Think of the end result as something of a concentrated fusion of a Grand Cross and Abyssal Inferno, except without any risk to your own lives." – The ginger took a few extra looks at the weapon that would be used for the deed, still scanning through it with an aura detection spell of sorts, and added: "First things first, however, I might have to cleanse it from any residual holy energy. Leave it as a clean slate of sorts."

"So much for your mentor's prized rifle, huh?" – Sucy remarked, looking at Akko whilst Lotte was busy with her own job.

"In case you're wondering, Chariot fully approved of this plan, so you don't have to worry about that." – The other half-angel besides Akko remarked just as wisps of holy energy began rising up from the Shiny Flare and dissipating into nothingness.

Soon enough, Lotte was done, and handed the rifle to the duo. Try as either of them might, they didn't notice any real visual changes to the rifle – it was still the same ivory gun adorned in gold, with the same bent front sights and the same chipped stock.

Although, the more Akko looked at the cracks on the stock, the more she began noticing that the cracks seemed to form an odd pattern of sorts. What had her the most curious about the pattern was it's odd resemblance to a constellation of some sort.

She could swear she saw it in an astronomy book of some sort, but still couldn't quite grasp which constellation it was exactly.

"Well, that's half of the work done. Now, I suppose we have to head on up to the roof. From there, it's all up to you."

As the trio made it over to the elevator, Sucy could very much notice that Akko seemed a tad nervous, so it was only natural that the half-demoness asked: "That's not the first Archdemon you had to kill, what are you so worried about?"

Akko looked a bit off to the side before sighing and remarking: "I'm not sure if this will work. What if my hand twitches at the worst of times and I completely miss the shot? Or what if one of us ends up channeling the entirety of either of our souls into it and dying? Or what if everything works out, only for us to find out that it hardly even scratched that Archdemon, or, on quite the contrary, powered it up somehow? I'm so-"

A muffled "Hmm?!" was soon heard in the elevator, followed by a scandalized gasp.

Sucy just grabbed Akko by both her hands and kissed her on the lips, and remarked upon breaking the kiss:

" **Consider this a repayment for all the counseling earlier on and calm down.** "


	21. Synchronization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sucy and Akko finish Apollyon off once and for all with a single well-timed shot and some help, in the process strengthening their bond yet further.

"The Leviathan-Class Archdemon should be in range soon! Visual contact expected in five minutes! Prepare to fire! "

Lotte's plan was set in motion. The Archdemon was slowly but steadily being led out into a more open area, not too far away from the Order's headquarters, upon the roof of which Sucy and Akko were positioned. As Lotte was done helping Jasminka and Constanze lead the civilians out into a relatively safer area, she was currently busy observing how the other part of the operation went by, making sure that everything was going according to the presumed plan. If it was all done correctly, Sucy and Akko would have enough time to line up a clear shot on Apollyon, and finish the damn thing off in one well-timed shot to the head.

"Are you ready for this?" – Sucy asked, them both now holding Chariot's prized rifle in their left and right hand respectively – Akko's index finger was right on the trigger, whereas Sucy was busy holding the ivory weapon by it's fore-end.

"I sure am, Sucy. If we're in this together, then I'm as ready as I can be." – The determined look in Akko's eyes was more than enough to back her words up.

And with that, the two girls began channeling their spiritual energy into the weapon. As Sucy's demonic and Akko's angelic energies flowed into the Shiny Flare, it began slowly but steadily changing in appearance. The formerly ivory stock of the weapon now appeared to be made of equal parts dark ebony and pure white ivory, with the etching in it's side changing into an odd helix shape of sorts, made out of two unknown purple and yellow crystalline materials. The bent sight once again straightened back up, yet it also changed in it's composition, becoming an unknown purple metal, like a few other parts of the weapon, yet the parts of it that remained the same pristine gold appeared to almost… Shine, somehow.

Not only that, but an aura of similar golden and purple colors began enveloping the divine weapon. From it's stock to the fore-end, the weapon was soon entangled in thorn-covered purple vines as well as the golden ones, with nondescript white flowers blossoming on the latter ones.

Akko recognized the flowers as what they really were.

 **Lilies**.

"I guess it does accept us as it's new wielders after all." – Sucy remarked, smirking.

* * *

In the meantime, Diana and Amanda were currently busy at the entrance to the Order's building, fighting off dozens upon dozens of lesser demons. That being said, the feral monstrosities seemed to rely far more on numbers than any real strength, let alone wits, so it was little wonder that Diana was pumping those creatures full of lead incredibly quickly, maneuvering swiftly around the battlefield despite the snow and any potential obstacles.

As for Amanda, her weapon of choice was a bit unorthodox compared to Diana's – specifically, a blessed shotgunblade that not only allowed her to shoot hellhounds down at point-blank range, leading them to either get themselves killed incredibly quickly or end up injured and run away whimpering, but to also swat off any oncoming imps.

"You know, we do make for quite the battle partners." – The redhead remarked as she practically pried some random dead imp off her gunblade – poor bastard jumped at Amanda, attempting to bite her, and ended up eating a shotgun instead. Diana didn't even bother replying as she continued shooting one demon down after another.

It was one of those few times when Diana would enter some sort of battle trance, and hardly cared about anything around her, so long as there were demons that needed to be killed. True, it never happened to her during the occasional sorties that she and Akko embarked on, given that the enemies were far less numerous and much weaker, but right now was quite the exception, and so she had to give it her all and concentrate, as dozens of lesser demons were still coming her way.

However, there was one… Other thought occupying Diana's mind during the battle.

One that wasn't too disruptive, but one that gave her further determination and hope.

Even if Diana knew she couldn't be with Akko, even if she knew that the brunette loved someone else entirely, she still had to fight for the other girl's sake.

After all, she still wanted her former crush to be happy and succeed in her endeavors, no matter what else happened.

And killing off a small army's worth of lesser demons – so that Akko would finish the Archdemon invading this city off once and for all – was the least she could do.

* * *

"The demon should be within close vicinity soon enough. Most buildings in this area are barely even half the demon's height, so with nothing obstructing your vision of him, there shouldn't be anything to prevent you two from getting a clear shot on him. Get ready."

All the ginger got for a reply was an affirmative nod from the duo. Sucy didn't even pay any attention to her bangs slipping off to the side and revealing her demonic eye, as she was about as fixated on the incoming Archdemon as a predator on their prey.

Likewise, Akko was practically tunnel-visioning down the Shiny Flare's sights, ready to direct the weapon at it's target and pull the trigger.

"Ten seconds till visual contact! Charge it up!"

Both girls took a deep breath. In. Out. Practically in perfect synchronization.

Their consciousnesses may have remained in their bodies, but their souls were united as one in the sacred weapon.

"Apollyon is in range! Fire the Shiny Flare now!"

Akko and Sucy took a deep breath each. Their energies, now directed into the Shiny Flare, began to slowly but steadily concentrate in the one single aura-infused bullet within the rifle, ready to be released as soon as it was fired.

It was then that Sucy and Akko cast each other a quick glance, and Akko spoke up:

"Spawn of the Abyss, heard our words!"

"And see our actions!" – Sucy continued despite herself.

"I am Kagari Atsuko, half-angel fighter of the Human Order!"

"And I am Sucy Manbavaran, fighting only for my own life and for Akko's sake!"

"Your time has come, so accept death with dignity!"

"It will be much easier for you to accept your end than to try and evade it!"

"Convergence Flare!" – both maidens shouted out, and Akko pulled the trigger.

What was released from the weapon was far from an ordinary shot, as the bullet was followed by two trails of energy – one a pristine golden, the other a dark purple – intertwined in a helix.

Before Apollyon could even comprehend just what was about to hit him, the bullet connected, hitting the creature square into it's serpentine head, right between the eyes. The resulting purple and golden blast of energy soon reformed itself into a more complex shape - two pairs of wings, one above the other. Golden angelic wings, and purple bat wings.

As soon as the energy trail dissipated, Apollyon's scales began to outright crack at certain points, with the Archdemon having just now comprehended what was happening to him.

"No! This is impossible! I couldn't have been bested by some deserter and sub-human filth!" – The creature hissed out while it still could. – "I am the strongest Archdemon there is! I am Apollyon!"

 **"I am Apollyooooon!** " – the demon shouted out one last time before his voice just trailed off into an odd mix between a snake's hiss and a death rattle.

And with that, the creature soon exploded, with any remains that might've been left of it dissipating into dust even before they could land on the ground.

Looking at the end result of their cooperative efforts, Sucy and Akko soon lowered the Shiny Flare and practically slumped to the snow-covered "floor", standing on their knees, with Lotte flying over to the duo to check up on them. Sucy gave Akko a silent smirk just as the other half-angel approached them, with the brunette replying the same way.

"You two did great. The demon wasn't simply killed, but practically erased from existence. That's one less Archdemon in Lilithia's ranks." – The ginger reassured the duo, but either of them hardly bothered with Lotte's words, more concerned about catching their breaths.

"Hey, Akko…" – Sucy asked, pulling her bangs back over her eye.

"What is it?" – Akko asked back, breathing heavily.

"I still can't believe you roped me into your corny speech. Did you watch too much anime or what?" – Sucy deadpanned, elbowing Akko in the side with one hand whilst still leaning upon brunette's shoulder with the other. The tired half-angel giggled and replied: "I am quite surprised you followed my speech so well. Was it our aura connection talking back there?"

"Even I don't know what it was. Not that I care much. I'm just glad that we pulled this off together." – The half-demoness remarked, rubbing her cheek against Akko's.

"Hey, Lotts, care to help us get over to the infirmary? I don't think either of us got hurt, but Sucy and I definitely need to lie down on some bed or something."

The way over to the infirmary went by with Akko and Sucy practically leaning on each other's shoulders for support, with Lotte trailing just behind them to make sure that if one of them falls, then at least they won't bring the other one down and leave themselves both unable to get up.

Neither Sucy nor Akko were too picky in choosing a bed when they reached the infirmary, and they practically fell into the nearest available infirmary bed upon entering the area, soon falling asleep in each other's embrace.

Lotte just sighed contently as she left the duo, muttering something along the lines of: "Their bond is truly the strongest I've seen."

Not that Sucy or Akko cared that much about what the other girl had to say at this point.

**Right now, all that concerned them was getting a well-deserved nap together.**


	22. News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It appears that the prior day's battle has certainly attracted a lot of unwanted attention. Not only do Sucy and Akko have extra responsibility as wielders of the newly-transformed Shiny Flare, but it seems that the Sentinels have decided to personally intervene yet again.

The day after the attack was going by relatively quietly. Most people were busy either trying to go on with their daily lives as usual, or helping out with the reparations in districts that got torn up by Apollyon and his troops during the latest attack.

It was an off-school day for Akko, too, so she almost immediately headed on over to the Order's building, hoping to meet up with Sucy, who was likely awake by this point.

And it seemed that the half-demon wasn't slacking off this morning, either, as she was helping Jasminka and Constanze clean up around the infirmary area, as even though the place was mostly disused, they were still trying to keep it neat and clean – after all, by this point, the infirmary ward hardly saw much of it's intended use, instead being more akin to temporary living quarters for Sucy.

"Hey there, Suce!" – Akko remarked as she entered the room. – "We certainly had a battle of battles yesterday, didn't we?"

"You mean how we just stood there until the right moment? Yeah, that was certainly memorable." – The half-lilim deadpanned, although the reaction she got from Akko was soft laughter instead of annoyance.

"Yeah, it wasn't too interesting at first, but then we just channeled our energy into the gun, you aimed it right at that demon's ugly snake head, I pulled the trigger and **bam**! Archdemon disintegrated!" – The brunette recounted excitedly, wildly gesticulating in the process.

At this moment, Diana had peeked into the room, looking for Akko, and, catching Akko's arm moments before she got an unintentional punch to the face, remarked: "Atsuko, sorry to interrupt your unplanned martial arts training, but Chariot wanted to talk to you personally."

Akko looked back at Sucy once more, who just sighed and remarked: "Don't worry, I'll stay here and continue on with the cleanup. You go on ahead."

* * *

"You've arrived right on time, Miss Kagari."

As Akko entered the all-too-familiar office and sat down on the chair in front of Chariot's desk, she looked around for a bit. Right now, they were basically the only ones present in the room.

"What did you want to see me for, Miss Du Nord?" – The brunette asked, soon noticing the all-too-familiar rifle positioned on her mentor's desk.

"It's regarding yesterday's incident with the Archdemon." – Seeing that Akko tilted her head to the side confusedly, the redhead hurriedly corrected herself: "D-don't worry, Akko, you and Sucy did great back there. The propety damage, injuries and casualties were kept to a minimum thanks to your intervention, and it's not the results of the fight proper that I wanted to discuss."

"So what exactly is this all about?" – Sucy asked, opening the door and getting both Chariot's and Akko's attention.

Clearing her throat after a brief awkward silence, Du Nord continued: "The discussion is about the weapon you and Sucy used for the deed. From what you two demonstrated whilst using the Shiny Flare, it seems that I really underestimated it's potential. Not to mention that, since you were able to unleash said potential, it turns out you two are surprisingly more capable wielders for it than I expected. "

"Oh… Well, it's technically still your weapon, Miss Du Nord, so-"

"This is exactly what I was going at, Akko." – Chariot interrupted, handing the weapon over to the brunette. Noticing the younger girl's somewhat confused stare, she elaborated: "Seeing as I'm not nearly as much of a strong fighter as I was before, and how the weapon accepted you and Sucy as it's new wielders, I believe that passing the weapon down to you would be the most appropriate course of action."

"M-Miss Du Nord…" – Akko went silent for a bit, looking over the same ivory-ebony weapon, still entangled in purple and golden vines, before pushing it away and remarking: "I don't think I deserve to wield this weapon. It's one thing to deal with a heavy, almost immobile target, but I don't think I might unleash it's full potential in combat all that well. Besides, wasn't the Order's main purpose to resolve the eternal demon-angel conflict peacefully? "

"You didn't object to practically blasting that giant snake thing's brains out, why are you so peeved about it now?" – Sucy asked in her usual deadpan tone.

"Atsuko, I know full well you wouldn't dare use such a weapon against any innocents. And as for your lack of skill with rifles – you will just have to undergo quite a bit of extra training to get more used to it. I suppose it's only fair that, now that there is a greater conflict looming over the horizon, we resume your gun training, starting from tomorrow." – Chariot remarked, once again giving the Shiny Flare back to Akko.

"Is Diana going to be the one to train her all over again?" – The half-demoness remarked as the redhead got up from her seat. – "Considering that Akko can hardly hit the broad side of a barn, I'm getting the feeling that the cabbagehead was hardly a decent trainer for her."

"Sucy, please, try to be more respectful to your fellow members of the Order, even in spite of all the recent difficulties you might've had. That being said, Diana will not be the one training Akko. She already has her hands full with Amanda, who, despite showing rather impressive results in terms of gunplay, is still a little too careless for her own good. Instead, I wanted to assign **you** to help Akko out with her training instead."

The moment the red-headed woman said that, both Sucy and Akko couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

"Why me of all people?" – Sucy asked, her face showing about as much surprise as her usual deadpan expression allowed her. – "I hardly even used a gun in my life, I'm certain that I probably wouldn't achieve any better results either." – Sucy capped that last sentence off with a shrug.

"Even then, Akko still needs a proper partner to guide her through the training proper. Besides, you did mention you wanted to help out in any way you can, right? I believe this might just be your chance. " – Chariot explained quietly.

"Well… I'd be more than glad to. I sure as Abyss am looking forward to watching Akko blast demons' heads off one after another. " – Sucy responded, even cracking a slight smirk as she did.

Akko, as usual, was far more enthusiastic about the whole thing, as she subjected her mentor to another one of her bone-crushing hugs, all while practically rapid-fire-blurting out "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

It was at this moment that Amanda barged into the office, knocking Sucy off to the side, the look on her face practically screaming that something urgent just happened.

"Akko, ya won't bloody believe what they sayin' on the news about you and Sucy! Get over to the TV, or ya gonna miss out on some wicked news!"

* * *

"It is after yesterday's incident that the age-old question, which everyone thought to have forgotten with the end of the Great Angel-Demon War, once again resurfaced amongst the masses – are all demons really that bad? And even then, it was one amongst many, many others, such as whether our city is truly safe, or whether the Sentinels can actually be trusted. "

Diana sighed as she listened in on the news, grumbling something along the lines of "Those damn journalists…", whilst Amanda and Akko were practically glued to the screen.

"Either way, it appears that after this particular incident, which confirmed the presence of one of potentially many demons within the city, most demon sympathizers and demonologists once again began resurfacing into the general public. However, unfortunately for said groups, the Sentinels began their prosecution of any possible demon affiliates around the city back in full force, and the Order is just one slip-up away from being publically prosecuted, as stated by Trisagion, the leader of the Sentinels. That being said, most of the city's human and even angelic population not affiliated with either of these groups seems to be more inclined to take the Order's side in this conflict, if only because of the Sentinels' bias against the former and the recent wild goose chase of a mass interrogation of the latter."

Sucy powered the TV off much to Akko and Amanda's chagrin and Diana's relief, remarking: "And here I thought all inhabitants of this city were demon-hating bigots, and the Order was a mere exception."

"That's an easy enough assumption to make, given how the Sentinels are practically obsessed with trying to cover up even the mere fact of presence of any demons within the city." – Diana responded, looking off to the side. – "However, contrary to popular beliefs, demonologists and demon sympathizers are quite surprisingly common, as they were merely staying out of sight. Until now, that is. For example, the Hanbridge family – as in, the ones funding the Order – are also demonologists themselves, yet they indulge in far less illegal business and unwarranted summonings than what common demonologists would do. "

"So what ya sayin' is, the Sentinels' threats are basically as ineffectual as they can get? Gee, talk about complete and utter holy screw-ups!" – Amanda quipped, eliciting another groan from Diana.

"They are not ones for directly solving the city's problems, it seems. Only when there are any direct threats to the façade of safety they've been keeping up over the city, that's when they act to their fullest. The interrogations Lotte and many other half-angels went through, as well as you two-" – She turned to face Sucy and Akko – "-getting caught at the worst of times are all proof enough that they stopped playing around before, and are probably going to get even more serious now, especially given that they've made their intent public. "

"So, in layman's terms, we're screwed." – The half-demoness deadpanned, with her girlfriend groaning in frustration.

It was by then that one of the less notable members of the Order – a dark-skinned ginger going by the name Wangari – ran in, stopped for a bit to catch her breath, then shouted out: "There are Sentinels right at the Order's doorstep!"

As she noticed everyone pulling their weapons out, she signaled them to lower the weapons and added: "They're here on peaceful terms… They want to speak to Sucy and Akko personally. It's about yesterday's incident."

Sucy couldn't help but groan.

**Guess she was right about Akko's mere presence near her attracting unwanted attention to them after all.**


	23. Prejudice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko seems to get a bit too fed up with the Angel Sentinels' sheer prejudice against half-breeds and demons, and thus her loose tongue and hot-headed attitude lead to disastrous results.

It's interesting how greatly one's perspective on just about anything can change after certain events.   
  
The Sentinels' headquarters, a pristine white building with golden ornaments on the walls, formerly managed to feel surprisingly welcoming to Akko, yet now the place seemed incredibly imposing, like she wasn't supposed to be anywhere near it. Frankly, Akko never really felt safe with the Sentinels anywhere near her, especially ever since she joined the Order, but right now these rows of golden-armored angels standing by the sides of the main hall she passed through looked downright menacing, as if they would all surround Akko and impale her on their lances if she made any wrong move.    
  
Even more so considering that Sucy was right by her side, making the brunette worry yet further – not for herself, but for the half-lilim that was brought in along with her. The angels' bias against any and all demons was something she knew about all too well, and thus she was well aware that the Sentinels would not hesitate to hurt Sucy if they were given any reason to…   
  
Then again, would they really need a reason?  
  
"Ah, so you have finally arrived." – Trisagion remarked in her usual serene tone as the duo made it into the main hall. Her right-hand woman, Croix, was not immediately present for this particular meeting, instead peeking out from the office and watching the commotion unfold. After all, she hardly wanted to get involved with her former comrade's subordinates, especially at such a tense moment.   
  
In the angel hierarchy, Trisagion was a Dominion– that is, a member of a caste of the most powerful angels of the Second Sphere, with even the weakest of Dominions being powerful enough to obliterate demons out of existence without much effort. But of course, Trisagion's position as the leader of the Sentinels, as well as her influence, wasn't something she got solely because she was lucky enough to be born a Dominion – no, she earned her way to the top as a strong, self-sufficient and capable warrior during the Great Angel-Demon War, and nowadays she was leading what amounted to an entire military unit's worth of Third Sphere angels.    
  
"Not like we had a choice – we were practically led here at gunpoint." – Sucy deadpanned, looking around and seeing quite a few distrustful glares directed at her.   
  
"Miss Manbavaran, I suggest you hold your tongue here. You do realize that any wrong moves will lead to a rather sizable barrage of holy magic directed your way? As we all know, demons can’t tolerate holy energy all that well, can they now?" – Trisagion retorted, unsheathing her sword and pointing it at the younger girl.   
  
"Oh yes, I'm practically going up in hives just from being in this cathedral." – Sucy back-sassed the Dominion, seeing every Sentinel present around them draw their lances and point them at her.   
  
"Sucy, please, stop this." – Akko meekly responded, looking around nervously, soon coming face to face with another lance and lightly pushing it away.   
  
"Look, you brought us here for a reason, right?" – Sucy asked, pushing Trisagion's prized sword down and away from herself, not caring all that much about the burns on her palm that resulted from touching the blessed metal.   
  
"Your presence within this city has become quite the subject of public attention. Thus, I have an offer for you. Provided you help the Sentinels out with a certain… Unusual task, we will allow you to safely stay within the city, and may even provide political asylum if you need it." – The dominion-type angel calmly explained, sheathing her sword back.   
  
"What would you even need with Sucy anyway?!" – Akko suddenly shouted out, not at all thrilled with the prospect of her girlfriend being used to further the Sentinels' agenda.   
  
"Calm down, Miss Kagari. We assure you that your…Friend here will not be hurt." – Trisagion continued on, crossing her arms and eyeing the brunette suspiciously. – "There is simply a certain other demon staying out within this city that must be tracked down and deported out of her as soon as possible. Specifically, said demon is **Reyna Manbavaran**."  
  
It was then that the tiniest hint of surprise crept on Sucy's face as she asked: "Reyna? You mean my mother is still alive?"  
  
"We figured that you would have the easiest time tracking her down. It's all rather simple – you bait Reyna out, we safely get her out of the city, and you get to stay here."  
  
"And is there any real reason **why** you want Sucy's mom out of the city?" – Akko asked, crossing her arms angrily.   
  
"Well, we're trying to keep the population of demons here to a minimum. The citizens don't need any more reasons to worry than they already have, especially given demons' reputation around the world, so-" – Trisagion didn't even get to finish, as Akko soon let go of Sucy and got particularly up close to the winged Dominion.   
  
"Hang on. I think I just realized what you Sentinels really are. You're not protectors – you're just complete and utter **control freaks!** " – Akko shouted out, poking Trisagion in the chin accusatively and scowling at her angrily.    
  
"Akko, please, don't." – Sucy attempted to calm Akko down a bit, her tone showing genuine worry for the brunette. She certainly had a legitimate reason to be worried, too, as the present Sentinels once again aimed their weapons at the duo.   
  
"No need to intervene, subordinates. I'd like to hear what else this half-angel has to say." – Trisagion signaled, staying as serene and calm as ever.   
  
"Very well then." – Another deep breath, and then she continued: "You think of us humans as little more than lawless brutes that need to be controlled in every single aspect of our lives, you consider any half-breeds as nothing more than filth that needs to be rooted out, and you think even less of demons, treating them as if they were some horrible mindless beasts! You try to appear all pure, but in reality, **all** of you angels are rotten to the core! And for all I care, I am downright **ashamed** to be part angel now!" – Akko flicked her finger against the dominion's chin, with the woman's uncaring expression not shifting even the tiniest bit.   
  
"All according to plan, it seems." – Croix mouthed as she saw Akko take Sucy's hand and attempt to drag her out of the hall.   
  
"You do realize that if you refuse my offer, your friend here will be considered an outlaw, and shall be cast out of the city?" – Trisagion remarked, closing the main door of the hall with a single subtle gesture. – "And that if she dares return, the Sentinels will have full right to kill her?"   
  
"I won't let you do that to her. If I have to, I will fight for Sucy's right to stay here." – As if to confirm her words, Akko pressed Sucy just a smidgen closer to herself, with look on the mauve-haired girl's face showing as much surprise and disbelief as she could muster.  
  
Trisagion merely chuckled in response, and soon replied: "Very well then, I suppose I might as well humor you. Perhaps deciding the fate of your acquaintance-by-lust with a fight for her sake might be the best option for someone who lets the sins of wrath and lust rule over them too much for their own good."  
  
This response was what left Akko downright baffled. She didn't even care that it was a fully-powered dominion taunting her there, she was ready to tear her apart if she had to!   
  
"That being said, I don't think you would have a fighting chance going up against me all alone. Since it is the parasite's fate that we are deciding here, it's only fair that you both go up against me in a two on one duel. And trust me, I am far stronger than both of you." – Trisagion drew her sword and took a few swings as if to emphasize her point.   
  
"Very well then. Tomorrow, on top of the clock tower in the middle of the city. Neither side can have their allies intervene in any way, too. Honor before reason, after all. " – Akko remarked, smirking at the angel.   
  
"You can count on it."  
  
"I guess she did manage to provoke her enough after all. Well played, Atsuko. Everything is going just according to plan." – Croix remarked to no one in particular as she watched Akko and Sucy practically storm out of the Sentinels' headquarters. 

* * *

"Akko, sorry for being so brutally honest, but you must be completely out of your bloody mind!" – Sucy remarked as the duo made their way back over to the Order's building.   
  
"I couldn't care less. I am perfectly willing to take a risk for the sake of my own beliefs, as well as for your own life. I care about you too much to allow you to be exiled or killed." – The brunette remarked, looking the half-demoness in her sole visible eye.   
  
"I see there really is no way to convince you. You are either that stubborn, stupid, or both." – The mauve-haired girl deadpanned, although her expression soon shifted into a worried frown as she added: "Thus, at the very least, I have just one thing to ask of you. Please, try not to get yourself killed in that fight."   
  
" **After all, losing you again is the last thing I need.** "


	24. Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko tells the news of an upcoming battle to the rest of the Order and spends the rest of the day preparing for it, with quite the fair share of worries coming in during her training.

"Say what now?!"  
  
Having made it back to the Order's headquarters, Akko was rather quick to explain the situation regarding the upcoming battle, much to the surprise of just about every other Order member present at the moment, Amanda included.   
  
"You heard that right. Trisagion went as far as to challenge us to a fight, all because a certain someone – not calling any names – was running their mouth a tad too much." – Sucy deadpanned as she sat on a chair off to the side, watching Akko practice with the Shiny Flare. This remark, naturally, prompted Akko to set the gun into safety mode and practically drop it to the floor, shouting out in the usual defensive tone: "Now wait just a moment there, I was just telling her the truth! Everyone knows that angels treat humans and demons alike like complete and utter trash!"  
  
"Akko, no one denies that what you told Trisagion was the… Honestly, rather undeniable truth. But your bluntness on the matter, I'm afraid, might've just ended up your undoing." – Diana remarked, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance.   
  
"Either way, there is no point trying to change anything now." – the brunette replied, switching the safety back off and continuing her assault on the cardboard targets at the shooting range. – "The most I can do now is accept the challenge and try to defeat Trisagion. At the very least, she was honorable enough to let Sucy back me up in the fight."  
  
"I dunno, two on one seems like quite the bloody opposite of honorable, don'cha think?" – Amanda butted in, earning an annoyed glare from Sucy and another groan from Diana.   
  
"Unfair would be if Trisagion were to sic her entire unit on Akko, or if our entire damn Order were to gang up on Trisagion." – The mauve-haired demoness elaborated in her usual tone. As for the blonde, she, after narrowly avoiding a ricocheting bullet – it seemed like Akko's careless shooting made one of the bullets bounce off one of the walls at the worst possible angle. – added: "Considering that Trisagion is a Dominion-class angel, I think neither Sucy nor Akko, when confronting her alone, would be capable enough to gain any significant advantage against Trisagion. So yes, Amanda, I guess it could be unfair in some sense of the word."  
  
"Okay, okay, I get it now. Buzz off already. " – The Irish-American replied, shrugging.   
  
The Angel hierarchy, to put it mildly, is a lot more orderly compared to the Demons' Circle system. There are a total of three spheres, from most powerful to least powerful, and each sphere is split into three castes. Third Sphere angels are probably the closest to humans in terms of appearance, the only giveaway being their wings – a single pair for the Angels and Archangels, and two pairs for the Principalities. Second Sphere angels vary in appearances, appearing either bestial or almost fully human except for the wings – ironically, the Dominions, the most powerful angels of the Second Sphere, are also the most human-like in appearance compared to their more bestial brethren. And finally, the First Sphere angels are often the ones that would actually have to take a lot of energy and effort to maintain relatively human-like forms, some of them not even looking anything like a living being, let alone human.    
  
"Sucy, would you mind following me over to the corridor for a few moments? I have something to discuss with you personally, without Akko present." – Diana remarked as she went on to exit the room. As for the demoness, she just shrugged and followed the blonde into the corridor, the same air of indifference persisting around her.  
  
"Alright, what's the big bloody deal? It's about Akko, ain't it?" – Sucy remarked as she closed the door behind herself.  
  
"It is, but not quite in the way you would think." – The other girl replied, sighing afterwards. – "Why didn't you talk her out of doing something so reckless?"  
  
"You honestly think I didn't try to?" – The half-lilim deadpanned, leaning back onto the wall and crossing her arms. – "She's stubborn, a bit of an airhead, and is too bloody determined for her own good. In other words, not the kind of person that you can just " **talk** " out of doing something dumb. Besides, we're at a fork of pain here either way – or did you humans call such a situation a Morton's Fork? The only other option was for me to become an outcast and for her to be branded an outlaw for demon cooperation."  
  
The part about Akko was technically a lie on Sucy's part, mostly for the sake of making Akko's case look less severe… And because a part of her believed that this was very much a distinct possibility.   
  
 "So you're saying that in this situation, you could either get separated forever… Or die together." – Diana remarked in a resigned tone. – "I… Honestly don't know what to think."  
  
"All I can say is, Akko's a rather selfless person, and I very much admire that. But I'm sure as Abyss not going to let her go forth and die alone. If she's got into this mess because of me, it's only fair I back her up in the ordeal, right?" – As Sucy said that, she approached Diana as closely as she could, and ended up outright looming over the blonde, much to her unease. - "So I very much suggest that you don't intervene… Or else."  
  
Trying to keep her calm even as the demoness loomed over her, Diana replied: "Okay, I guess I'm not one to stop you. Do as you please. Oh, and tell Akko to be a bit more careful - the last thing she needs is ending up incapacitated before the actual battle."  
  
And with that, the two parted ways – Diana decided she might as well head on home, while Sucy went to help Akko with her training further. 

* * *

Later that evening, back at home, Akko didn't even bother explaining the situation to her mother – scaring her parent out of her wits was the last thing she needed after all – and spent the remainder of the day in silent anxiety regarding the upcoming battle.   
  
She wasn't at all fearing for her life, but it was Sucy that had her worried the most.   
  
If the half-lilim really was going to get involved in all of this, what were the odds of her making it out of that battle alive? Akko felt that, if she could, she would certainly go into battle without the half-demoness, just so that Sucy would be safe.   
  
As for Sucy… Even as she lied in the infirmary bed – which she has long since claimed as her own personal bed - she couldn't help but think about her and Akko's situation.  
  
"I swear… If Akko doesn't survive that battle, I will tear that damn Dominion to shreds. Then probably beeline it right outta the city. Not the first time I would have to start anew, then… And if I won't make it through… Well, at least I'll die with some peace of mind, knowing that Akko will either be alive and well, or, worst case, will join me in death." – Somehow, Sucy felt herself tearing up at that last thought.   
  
How curious. She started out as a strong, independent half-lilim, yet not long after meeting Akko, she felt like she couldn't ever imagine her life go on without that air-headed half-angel.  
  
Yet somehow…   
  
**She didn't seem to mind that particular dependence.**  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admittedly, this chapter wasn't on the grand list of things I was proud of. It just felt like complete and utter arc filler to me, to be honest. Hopefully the chapter with the battle proper will be much better.


End file.
